Riding in their full 2023 racing livery for the first time, Joan Mir and Marc Marquez made the most of the penultimate day of pre-season testing as they completed 152 laps and set the 14th and 19th fastest times.
With the start of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship drawing ever closer, the Repsol Honda Team arrived in Portugal for the final two days of pre-season testing. Continuing the development of the Honda RC213V and finalising various options for the 2023 season remained the primary focus for both sides of the garage at the Portimao Circuit.
Joan Mir continued to grow more comfortable on the Honda RC213V machine, making his first appearance on track in full Repsol Honda Team livery. The #36 continued to refine small details for his personal preference while working with HRC to assess a number of parts for the bike. A best time of 1’39.776 sees Mir end the day in 14th place, the leading Repsol Honda Team machine.
Completing 78 laps over the course of the opening day, Marc Marquez was able to continue the work he and the Repsol Honda Team had started in Sepang. A productive morning led into a busy afternoon as the #93 continued to work through a number of items in the build-up to the season. A disappointing 19th on the timesheets, Marquez remains optimistic that his overall race pace is closer to the front.
Both riders suffered falls without consequence at Turn 14.
Action continues on Sunday, March 12, the final day of the 2023 Moto GP pre-season.
Joan Mir
14TH 1’39.776
“Today we spent a lot of our time working between two different bikes, comparing them back-to-back towards the end. We have to keep on working to improve the bike in a few areas, especially in the turning. I am feeling really good in the change of direction and we are looking quite fast in some sectors and need to have this speed everywhere. There’s still one more day to go and time to keep on working to make another step.”
Marc Marquez
19TH 1’40.170
“In the morning our pace and rhythm was not so bad and we were able to work well with the base setup. We had a lot of work to do and in the afternoon we were trying many big things and we were not focusing on a single fast lap. The situation is not quite what it seems from the time sheets. Tomorrow hopefully we can focus a bit more on preparing for the race here in Portugal to start the season.”
- From Repsol Honda MotoGP
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