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Marc Marquez says some of the Honda parts he sampled in Monday’s Brno MotoGP test helped “solve problems” he has experienced in recent races.
The factory Honda rider topped the timesheets at the Czech circuit, a day after finishing third behind Ducati pair Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.
He sampled four different iterations of Honda’s RC213V during the test, including a black-coloured machine similar to the one he used in the previous post-race test at Barcelona.
While denying that bike was a 2019 version, he admitted Honda was working for the “future” as well as for the remainder of this season, and said some improvements he tried would be introduced as early as this weekend’s Austria race.
“I tried positive things that I liked a lot, some parts solve problems that we have had in the last races,” said Marquez, who ended the test 0.133 seconds clear of second-placed Johann Zarco.
“You don’t gain half a second at a time [with each part], but they can help, especially at the end of the race.
“We rode with a prototype like the one we already tested in Montmelo [Barcelona], but it’s not a 2019 bike, they’re things for this year.
“We have seen positive things that we will already have for Austria, and [test rider Hiroshi] Aoyama has done some laps with that bike to check that everything is in place.
“With the black bike I only did one exit to check that everything was fine.”
Marquez added that Honda had focused on its management of its front tyre during the test, as the Spaniard seeks answers on how Ducati and Yamaha are able to use the softer rubber in races.
“We need to understand why the other manufacturers can use the softer front compounds and we are always using the hard,” he said.
“Sometimes when the temperature is very high, we are struggling.
“For that reason I was riding at midday with 55C [track temperature] because it was something we want to understand.”
Dani Pedrosa was third-quickest after struggling for pace over the weekend, in which he qualified down in 10th and finished eighth.
Explaining his improved pace, he said: “With track conditions like they were, it was much easier for me to go fast. “When the [on-track] grip is less, it’s more difficult for me to find the rear grip to go fast in the middle of the corner. This is the main reason.
“Yesterday [Sunday] was difficult, no grip at the rear, today was the opposite.”