Hot and hard – Repsol Honda Team begin work in Malaysia

The laps keep coming as the final stop of the triple-header arrives, Luca Marini and Joan Mir continuing to assess new parts for their Repsol Honda Team machines on the way to 18th and 20th respectively.

Dry conditions allowed for a full day of uninterrupted running at the Sepang International Circuit as the penultimate round of 2024 began. With a number of new items to try, the Repsol Honda Team took full advantage to compare and contrast the latest upgrades with the results and feelings from the start of the year in testing. It would prove to be a complicated day as both Luca Marini and Joan Mir balanced development work with the needs of the weekend.

Luca Marini spent his Friday in Sepang working to assess a new chassis and understand the tyres for the weekend. Collecting a good amount of data, the #10 and his side of the Repsol Honda Team garage feel a return to the setup used in recent rounds will produce the best results. Even with the busy day, Marini was able to notice an improvement in his feeling and performance compared to his first trip here in February.

Different conditions from the February Sepang Test compared to now voided any serious comparisons of lap times, but Joan Mir was still eager to understand how development has changed the feeling of his Honda RC213V. It proved a challenging day for the #36 who continued to work on improving his feeling. A best time of 1’59.535 put the 2020 MotoGP World Champion in 20th and just over a second shy of the top ten.

With 14 riders within a second, Saturday is already set to be a hard-fought day. Although there was a distinct lack of typical afternoon showers on Friday, Saturday could be a different story and open the field up once again.