Mir satisfied with the lap times, Marini more focused on the long run | FP

Improvements at Sepang

Another day of testing without bad weather on the Kuala Lumpur circuit, with positive weather conditions that favored the two drivers of the Official Honda to improve the feeling with your RC213V. While Joan Mir closed the top-10 behind Marco Bezzecchi, the lap times were less brilliant for Luca Marini, 17th at the end of the second day of pre-season testing.

Mir faster, Marini on race pace

In 39 laps completed by Mir, the Japanese team noticed a clear improvement in speedas demonstrated by time stopped on1:57.872. A lap more than half a second faster than the one recorded in qualifying by the Spaniard last year in the Malaysian GP, ​​which satisfies Marc Marquez's former teammate, this year replaced by Luca Marini. However, the former VR46 team driver focused more on the race pace, focusing on areas to further improve on the final day of testing in Malaysia and Qatar. The 26 year old from Urbino in fact closed the session in 1:58.394.

“Yesterday we tried a lot of things and today it was about confirm those that worked well – has explained Mir – today we had a base that I felt comfortable with, so it's a excellent step forward that I did here and as a result I was able to improve a lot. I'm already 0.6s faster than in qualifying last year, where I was ahead of my teammate. We are seeing the potential that is there and I am happy with what we did today, but we have to keep our feet on the ground and keep working because there is still margin. One last day here before starting to think about the Qatar tests.”

“It was another intense day in Sepang – commented Marini – I did a long runs and I tried many different things. The long run showed us many things and we were able to understand the work to be done because I wanted something more. It was good to understand the bike and how it changes as the tires wear over the course of a race. With the new tires I feel quite good, so we need to find the same sensations when the tires are used more. This is why we go for tests, to understand these points and take advantage of the time available to us to continue working on them. It's time to rest and prepare for the last day here in Malaysia.”