On the day when Jorge Lorenzo managed to break the 1’59” barrier in Sepang, setting the new track record, Dani Pedrosa had to settle for the second place time (+0.179). The Spaniard was just over a tenth and a half behind, proving to be the fastest Honda rider at the end of the session.
“I managed to have a good pace over the long distance – number 26 began – Plus, we were able to work well on the soft and hard tyres, finding good sensations. Today I also used the session to do a long run – he added – in order to understand the engine and to have more information.”
Dani was immediately asked if he is more convinced of the fairing or engine.
“As for the fairing, it is still hard to form an opinion since changes can be made on every track – he explained – The engine is good, though. In this case, the situation seems clearer since it can’t be modified too drastically.”
In Malaysia, the Honda had three available for testing.
“At the moment it’s hard to make a choice between them – Dani explained – We worked mostly on the last one. Sometimes this track confuses perceptions because the temperature is very high, so you’re forced to use it to the maximum. It would be better to find cooler conditions – he added – In any case, I can say that the engine is a bit more powerful than last year’s, plus I am able to go into corners with more confidence. In any case, we collected a lot of data for the engineers to assess.
The frame seems to be the part that convinced him the most.
“The sensations are rather good. Now we need to work on those aspects where maybe we are still struggling with something – he admitted – Things are certainly clearer on the frame than they are on the engine.”
Dani then went into detail.
“Right now I concentrated on that base, namely the standard version, which gave me good feedback – he concluded – the goal of this test was to assess the engine and turn as many laps as we could. We worked a bit on the suspension and, as I said, on the aerodynamics. For us it will be important to check the material on other tracks in order to have a clearer view of the situation.”