Marquez sets the pace on busy opening day at Jerez

The final test of the 2015 season sees Honda, Ducati and Aprilia in action at Jerez. Today saw limited running with only eight bikes on track with the focus on understanding the new Michelin tyres and getting more performance from the spec electronics.

There is plenty for teams still to understand and with testing limited during the season this is a key opportunity for them to get a better understanding of their packages. Honda are continuing to test their new engine, Ducati has some small upgrades for Pirro and Aprilia are concentrating on understanding the electronics.

Marquez completed 65 tours of the Spanish circuit and spent the day evaluating host of different aspects of the bike.

“Every time we go on track it’s interesting because we try many things,” said Marquez. “We did a few laps to understand a few things with the electronics and tyres and we tried the new engine too which felt similar to Valencia but we must complete more laps to get the electronics working better, as it’s hard to understand the true character until we have that fixed. The electronics are still not consistent we have made progress, but it’s clear they are certainly a step behind the Honda software we are used to, but we know it won’t be the same so we must find a way to work with it, especially concerning the engine brake and traction control.”

Dani Pedrosa completed 56 laps but had a crash at the last corner but came back to the pits relatively unscathed.

“It’s been a good first day, despite the crash at the end where I was a little strong on the braking and lost the front in the last corner,” said the Spaniard. “I was a little slower today as I’ve not ridden here since the 2014 race, so I took my time to adjust to the Michelin tyres and this bike at this track. I was comparing the different engines but also working on settings as I had no data from the race this year. We tried to do the best job possible today, for sure it was more of a setup day, tomorrow we will work on the engines, tyres and electronics in more detail.”

No official times were released but some times were revealed to MCN from team sources.

Unofficial times
1. Marc Marquez Honda 1m39.9s
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m40.0s
3. Michele Pirro Ducati 1m40.2s
4. Yonny Hernandez Ducati 1m41.2s
5. Eugene Laverty Ducati 1m41.8s