After a ‘little upgrade’ to the RC213V’s MotoGP engine in Austria, Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig has revealed the factory’s ‘biggest💛 step of the year’ should debut at Misano.

That step, which Puig describes as a𝓡 ‘full package difference’, is thought to pencilled in for the Official post-race MotoGP test on September 9 rather than this week’s pri꧙vate outing at the Italian track.

“It's true that we made some progress with the throttle connection [with the new engine configuration]. It affects some riders mor♋e than others… But the [direction] looks like it’s correct,” Puig told Dorna's Simon Crafar in Austria.

“We have another test soon to reconfirm. And t🔴ဣhen in Misano we will have the biggest step of the year. Which will not only be an engine or aero, it will be a full package difference.

“We are still not there clearly [but]💙 we know the problems and we are trying to fix them.”

The ‘Austria’ enginꦺes were the second evolution of the new spec introduced in Barcelona.

The ‘Barcelona’ engines lacked straight-line performance compared to the standard version but were seen as the first step in the right direction: Joan Mir described🎶 them as one step back to take two steps forwar꧟d in future.

Although Mir and Repsol Honda team😼-mate bot🍌h had the revised configuration in Austria, it appears was first to race the revised powerplants, at Silverstone.

Nakagami received two new engines at the British Grand Prix and did not open any m🌊ore at the Red Bull Ring, but said he was on the same spec as the Repsol riders.

Nakagami’s LCR team-mate opened one new engine in Austria, which gave ꦅhim 🐻trouble in the race, but remained on an older spec.

Although Nakagami finished as the to🥂p rider on a Japanese bike, in 14th, he played down the significance of the latest engine tweaks♓.

“It's not a massive step… I mean we cannot decide [if] this package is better or not. In some area the new spec is slight♕ly better, but we are still struggling,” he said.

“In my case, I'm jumping from the ‘Zarco-spec’ [engine] to the new one. For example, Marini went from the other [new] spec to♐ this new one. So maybe he can feel more clearly the difference.  

“But anyway, small things, that little by little we 𓆏try to solve the problems, s💮tep by step!”

Nakagami confirmed he had felt “some positive feeling from the bike” as he climbed from 22nd on the grꦿid:

“It's a shame that the𒆙 qualifying session was not really good, but I knew for the long distance, if I do no mistakes, at least the target was to be the fastest Honda.”

Mir’s grand prix was much bleaker🌺, finishing in 17th place ꧂and 40 seconds from race winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

“A challenge hon🌜estly to finish the race. Difficult to have worse feelings [than] I had,” concluded Mir, who had been looking forward to the revised engine configuration only to experience unexpected problems with i♔t at the Red Bull Ring.

“I cannot see a specific area where I can be competitive,” he꧒ added. “On straight braking, I was locking the front. Then my bike was spinning a lot. You have a constant floating feeling that you cannot control.

“Then 🦹the drop of the tyre is bigger than the others, because we spin more and overheat the tyres more than the others. And also at the beginning of the race in the group I had to slow down because my front tyre pressure was in the moon. So I was not really able to push.”

The Spaniard is now pinning his hopes on progress during th♌e upcoming series of tests and raceꦐ weekends.

“We have quite a busy schedule because we have testing in Misano on Wednesday, for one day. Then in Aragon [GP], we will try more things. In Mi๊sano race and Misano ওtest again we will try more things, different engine configurations," Mir said.

Suzuki’s 2020 world cha𓂃mpion backed up Puig’s comments by stating that the Misano test items will include ‘some bi🍬g things’.

“We will try something to help on the ﷺgrip, some big things that I 🥂think can help us to understand what is the direction for next year.”

Team-mate Marini, perhaps the most upbeat of the Honda riders in recent events after climbing from the bottom of the timesheets, failed to f꧟inish Sunday’s grand prix due to a te൲chnical problem.

“New engine is a big word. I’d say a little upgrade,” was how the Italian described the Austria spec configuration. “After the Silverstone race we saw Taka’s performance looks a little better, but [still] not enough to [match] the oth♚er engines [in a straight line], which are more ﷽difficult to ride.”

On Sunday evening🍸, Marini was aꦜlso looking ahead to the upcoming tests at his local track:

“I think we made a solid weeke🎶nd, some positive things that will help us for the develop𒐪ment of the bike. Now we have an important test in Misano, hopefully the weather will be good.”

This week’s private test should see some aero updates, which Marini indicated would be aimed at the ground effect technology long exploited by the Europe🧸an machines “to make the bike turn and stop in a very good way.”

Swingarm and chassis parts, plus electronics work, are also on the agenda but they are, “little details. Everything is new but not a completely new project. It's slightly better more or less, every update🧸.

“So if you brought the bike from the start of the season here - maybe not for me because I didn't like it, but maybe for Zarco - the difference w𒁏ould be very close. So we have to push more, but I appreciate really the effort that all the engineers are putting into the project.”

Marini then teased that something significant c𒁏ould appear at the official Misano test but appeared to be talking about a specific deve♈lopment rather than the ‘full package’ referred to by Puig.

“There is something that can be big. We wil♔l see after I have tried it... So let's wait for the moment that we are going to try that👍 part.”

Marini and Mir have opened 7 out of their 9 engines allowed this season, meaning the Repsol riders have room to try just one more engine design update if introduc♒ed to both of their machines ('spare' and 'number one' bike).

The LCR riders have 🍨more flexibility for future updates, with Zarco currently on 5 engines and Nakagami o𒅌n 6.