Repsol Honda boss Alberto Puig’s assessment of MotoGP Sepang test: “We must improve many, many things”
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Marc Marquez, the team’s star rider, left Sepang confident in his own improving physical performance but claiming that the current incarnation of his 2023 bike must be dramatically improved before it can💫 help him fight for the championship.
Honda endured a horrible 2022 - Marquez missed six races due to injury yet was still their highest-placed rider in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:MotoGP standings - while 𒁃they embarrassingly failed to score a single point in a premier class race for the first time in 40 years in Germany.
Team manager Puig🍌 reflected on the three-day preseason test in Sepang: “It was an evolution of what we tried in Valencia. For us, the testing will finish in Portimao.
“Clearly, we are not th♏♔ere yet. Where we want to be.
“To keep on trying solutions that we have, we have many ideas, but we have to bringꦑ them and prove that 𝕴they are working. This is what we are doing now.
“One of our goals is to 𝔍improve traction but it’s not the only one. We have to improve many, many things.
“We think that we are in t🍷he right directionꦗ. We had four bikes - the same, with different settings. But we don’t have a completely new concept.
“We do not think that we have achieved our goal. No. From engine and from chassis, we have﷽ possibilities. But we need more time, this is clear.”
Marquez began on Friday with four bikes before finalising his favourite one on Sunday, although he made it clear thꦦat even Honda’s best eff𓄧orts “need another step”.
He was 10th-fastest on Sunday with new teammate, the 2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir, 12th.
Perhaps if Honda can add further performance to their machinery at the upcoming Portimao test then this past w🥂eekend will be reᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚviewed as a positive experience because Marquez rode injury-free.
“Marc is good, his condit💙ion is much better compared to last year,” Puig said.
“He c🐻an do laps and, the next morning, he is not destroyed, soღre, painful.
“We see progresꦇs with Joan. He is improving and understanding the bike.
“If 🦋we bring the bike that we think we can bring? We cannot forget Joan is a two-time world champion. This is the reason that he is here.”
James w🌜as a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
