Despite a strong challenge from Joan Mir, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Johann Zarco keep his place as Honda’s fastest rider during the Sepang MotoGP test.

The Frenchman - who secured a rare Q2 place for Honda at last November’s Malaysia Grand Prix and w𝕴as also eleventh in the main race - finished the test 0.711s behind leader Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).

Factory rider Mir was only 0.075s behind, with Luca Marini in 15th an🍌d Zarco’s rookie LCR team-mate Somkiat Chantra in 19th but still within 1.64s of Marquez around the near two-minute lap.

“We can take this test as positive and even more positive than what I ꧒could expect,” Zarco began. “Because the [final day] performance was really good. And it's nice for the confidence to get closer to the top guys. The gap is not so big compared to the past.”

Hon♛da had new engine, aero and chassis parts to try in Malaysia. Zarco, like Mir, seemed to favour the ꦿnew engine but older aero.

“We tried many thi꧃ngs during the three days,” said the Frenchman. “And today, we could put all those thin𒁃gs together and it was working much better. So I’m happy for this.

“There are not [individual] things that are making a huge diff༺erence on the bike but putting them all together I realise I have a better control 🐬of the bike.

“Now we need the test in Thailand to keep trying those [new] things and chose which package will be the b☂est to start the season, because we have to decide which parts to homol🌄ogate.”

Johann Zarco notes Honda strong points

En🦹gine and aero need to be homologated for round one, although Honda’s D concession raking means, like Yamaha, they can update both desi꧙gns during the year.

With Zꩵarco only 15th on the top speed charts, the RC213V is lacking some outright power at present while rear grip remains a weaknessﷺ.

However, the revised engine c✱haracter appears to help with turning෴.

“There are really some bikes that look very strong in acceleration and this is an area that when you follow someone you always ☂feel that you are losing,” he continued.

“But when we analyse al♚l the corner, sometimes [the exit] is not the biggest area to focus on. So we had other things to work on to give better feeling for the rider. Which 🐠I could find and that makes me pretty pleased.

“On the engine side, Honda is doing its best to have the most power possible, but also power that you caꦿn us꧙e.

“I hope we will have something better during the season, but I'm sure we can fight for top tens from the first races, which is one of my mainꦏ targets at the mo𝓀ment.”