Valencia Test

synn said:

It was a gearbox failure .

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Marc Marquez was pleased with his initial impressions of Honda’s 2018 RC213V after two days of MotoGP testing at Valencia, where he set the fastest overall time.

Three days on from securing his fourth premier class title, Marquez was tasked with putting three bikes through their paces: the machine with which he ended the season; his ’17 bike with an updated frame; and Honda’s all-new ’18 prototype.

And while he posted his fastest time on this year’s machine, the 24-year old was appeared to be more excited by the potential of the ’18 prototype. Its engine, he said, has more power in the lower and top ends.

What’s more, the electronics settings were already fairly accurate, even at such an early stage. “It’s the first time with such a new engine I feel inside the parametres,” he said, a contrast to when Honda rolled out its new bike at this test at the close of 2015 and '16.

As a result Marquez and Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa will not test at Jerez next week. The pair had set some test days aside to develop the ’18 bike further at the Andalusian track – perhaps a sign the pair are already confident with regards to next year’s machine.

“We tried the current bike, the bike I used this year, and then like yesterday, we tried a small modification on that bike that was more on the chassis area,” he said. “And then the new prototype, and the new prototype is completely new, and of course when everything is new we had a small problem. That's normal, the first time on the track.



“But anyway, it was working well, we had some interesting points, of course with the new prototype we still need to understand many, many things, because it was not only the new engine, it was also the chassis area which had many different parts. Now we need to understand well, and especially choose the correct way, the correct decision for the Malaysia test, because it will be the next time that we will ride with the bike.



“Always when you get a new engine they try to give more power to you, and we gained, especially on the bottom, we gained a little bit more power. Also in the top, we gained there. Still they are looking forward to doing more steps. Like always they are trying to improve the performance.



“I'm happy because it's the first time that with such a new engine I feel inside the parametres, you know? Normally every year I was starting here and we were talking one year ago here, saying the electronics are not there, we need to work on the electronics. But now it's inside the parameters in this circuit, but now we need to reconfirm in February.



“The prototype engine yes, we can gain there. But we need to work on the chassis area. The chassis that we had today, there were many, many new parts, and now we need to understand which part was better, which part was worse. But we need to choose, the engine is good, the chassis? [I still have] Doubts.”



Marquez’s brother Alex is set to stand in for the injured Thomas Luthi at Jerez next week.

Valencia MotoGP Test: Marquez: We can gain with '18 engine | News

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MdubSTYLIE said:

I know its only been one test but the scenarios for next year are great. If all the riders preform to their possible high expectations we are going to have a lot of drama and a crazy signing period next year. Start with yamaha. If Zarco out preforms the factory yamaha's one of them will be out of a seat. Obviously not Rossi so they will have to chose between Rossi, Mav, and Zarco. I don't see them letting Zarco go and Zarco seems smart and would want to stay on the yamaha. Now what if JLo wants to come back after next year? Lets say he preforms on par with Dovi and Jack. Who do you keep? You don't keep the over paid rider when he is being paid to win titles. So JLo must handle Dovi and Jack to keep his seat. Thats if he wants it. Ok now what if Morbidelli is as good as advertised? That will be the guy Rossi will do all in his power to get as a teammate. He is the first from the VR46 farm to make it this far. Its his protege. So I see Mav being out for sure next year.

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synn said:

He didn’t leave the VR46 academy. He went into Moto2 when there was no VR46 Moto2 team. He is still part of the academy and trains with the rest of the guys at the ranch.

Can you be a little less dense so that people could have intelligent discussions with you?

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Little Walter said:

Can't you make a counter point without being an insulting little ....?

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moto vudu said:

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p4p1 said:

Surely the riders and factories are pushing for some consistency in tyre construction and design rather than a completely different tyre like they started 2017 with.

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Little Walter said:

Can't you make a counter point without being an insulting little ....?

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