Marquez tests three chassis to find balance

Marc Marquez set the pace at the end of the first day of the Sepang test after a late switch to new tyres allowed the Spaniard to finish one tenth faster than Valentino Rossi. While Marquez has been the dominant force in the premier class since making his debut in 2013 he is still searching for more from his Honda with braking stability the key area of improvement for the champion.

Marquez’ aggressive style of riding sees him place a huge amount of force through the front tyre under braking before releasing the brake lever and aggressively dropping the bike into the corner. At this week’s test the level of commitment that HRC has to finding the optimum braking stability was clear with Marquez handed four RCV213v’s for the test.

Having tested three of those bikes today-the 2014 bike, the Valencia test bike and a new compromise evolution-Marquez admitted that the latest bike is his favoured option after day one of the test:

“Today we tested three bikes,” said Marquez. “One was last year’s bike, the other was the Valencia [2015] bike and the third was a compromise between the Valencia bike and last year’s bike. After the holidays, trying three different bikes was hard. But in the end I chose the new bike – the compromise between last year’s bike and the Valencia bike.

Marquez went on to comment that the primary objective in day one of the test was to decide on which bike to focus attention on for the remainder of the test. The reason that the latest model is a compromise is that the Valencia test bike offered a better front end while turning but lost out the stability under braking that has become the hallmark of the Honda during the last two years.

“With the Valencia bike I liked the front confidence, but we lost a lot in the brake point. So I asked Honda to keep the same brake point as last year’s bike. They did a really good job because in the brake point I feel exactly the same and of course immediately we lose a little bit this front confidence, but it is still more than last year. That is good. We found the compromise.”