Marc Marquez says his Repsol Honda team still need to work on the RC213V’s electronics despite ending the first day of track action at Phillip Island top of the pile.
Honda introduced an updated version of its ‘big-bang’ engine at the Malaysia test at the start of the month, but found that the electronics weren’t working properly with the new motor. Unable to completely fix the issue, the Japanese manufacturer ended the test somewhat on the back foot.
Wednesday was a busy day for the reigning world champion Down Under, who was once again evaluating several engine configurations as Honda seek to finalise the version they’ll use for the 2017 season this week. As the motor used today wasn’t run during last year’s grand prix, Marquez lost quite a bit of the morning whilst his mechanics worked on set-up.
“We had 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,” said Marquez. This meant we had to readjust everything during the morning and spend a lot of time in the box.”
Once out on track, the Spaniard completed 68 laps of the picturesque 2.7-mile Phillip Island circuit and posted a best effort of 1m29.497s to go almost two tenths clear of the field.
The team were able to find a decent base set-up for the engine’s electronics later in the session, and he was left feeling happy enough with his pace as a result. However, Marquez admits that there is still much work to be done to resolve their electronics issue.
“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,” he explained.
“We also worked on the set-up, 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.”
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