The first day of the Australian test concluded with Honda’s Marc Marquez leading the field, his fastest lap of 1’29.497” just three-thousands of a second off the 2016 best race lap (1’29.494”).
The day was windy but with blue skies and temperatures that rose from quite chilly in the morning to 30° C (41.8° on track). Marc began riding around 11 a.m. and continued working on his RC213V machine, which was fitted with the engine he had chosen in Malaysia two weeks ago.
The reigning world champion was happy with the way the day panned out and is looking for further improvements here tomorrow.
“We had a quite a busy day because we worked a lot on the engine, which of course is different from the one we used here at Phillip Island last year. That meant we had to readjust everything during the morning and spend a lot of time in the box,” he explained.
“In the afternoon we found a base for the electronics, but we still need to work harder in this area. I’m fast, but like in Malaysia we want to double-check how it’s working in some areas. We also worked on the setup, and overall it has been a positive day. The weather was good, which is always important, so hopefully it will stay the same for the next two days.”
Testing will continue here for another two days.
