Dani Pedrosa concentrates on present rather than future

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa resisted the temptation to spend too much time giving feedback on the new 2014 RC213V factory prototype in Misano yesterday (Monday).

The Spaniard has more pressing matters than next season and he preferred to spend the vast majority of his 74 laps on track working on a range of settings to improve rear edge grip with his current V4 machine.

Pedrosa has identified a lack of rear edge grip at full lean angle for the main reason why he has been overshadowed by teammate Marc Marquez and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo in Silverstone and Misano.

So in an attempt to find a solution he only completed a short stint of four laps on next year’s factory RC213V, his best time of 1.33.892 on the existing model leaving him sixth on the timesheets at the end of a one-day test at Misano.

There was no quick fix to the edge grip issue for Pedrosa and he said: “We mainly worked on the shock and the rear part of the bike to try and get some grip with different settings from the race. Not everything was super clear but we had some positive things and some ideas for the next race. I tried the new bike but only for four laps and I wasn’t really focused on that because I need much more time on my current bike. Not everything was completely clear but we have some things to try now for the next race, also with the mapping.

We need to try with different asphalt and tyres because in Misano I struggled with this asphalt and all tyres and in the test I tried many things with used tyres and I felt always faster on used tyres than new tyres. That is quite strange because normally you go at least 0.4s quicker than your race time but it was not the case for me all weekend.”

Pedrosa said he had not felt the need to dedicate more time to development of the 2014 RC213V, which was a modified version of next year’s bike that he first rode briefly during a rain-hit test at the Motorland Aragon track back in June.

The full version of the 2014 bike will be ready to test at a three-day session immediately after the final race in Valencia in early November and Pedrosa added:

“It has a little modification since Aragon but not the step I expected yet but the bike is still not the final version. Valencia we will have it again with a different combination. The bike is growing but we have to clarify all the points we want to improve and push for that for November and we should have a good step for Valencia.”