Team HRC begins its winter testing with two very positive days on Spanish soil

“I'm really happy with the test and surprised with the step they’ve made with the new bike in Japan. Generally, in terms of the electronics, engine and chassis, the feeling with the bike is very different, by which I mean better. There are still areas where we’re struggling a little of course, and others where we need more understanding, but all in all I’m very happy for now. I realized that I also need to alter my riding style a little to adapt to the different feeling but, even with that, it was amazing to see that we could set some very good lap times and that tyre wear was less of a problem compared to the past. There is a lot we need to discover and understand, also because the conditions changed significantly over the last two days, with yesterday so much windier than today, which meant that we had to adjust the balance of the bike between the two sessions. I also felt a bit tired today, after a lot of travel and two very busy race weekends. So, we have a lot to reassess during the next test. Here our “new package” also included my new crew chief and we’ve made a good start there too, finding that we have in a lot in common both personally and professionally. We both like to be fully focused when it’s time to work and then share a joke after we wrap up for the day. So far, so good, and now let’s see if we can confirm these positive sensations during the December test at Portimão, a track that is very different to Jerez.”

“We’re pleased as we’ve enjoyed two really constructive days of testing and been able to complete many laps in dry weather. Initially we worked to adapt to the new bike and tried not to make too many changes, starting with the base set-up that the technicians and Tetsuta had prepared for us in Japan. And my first impressions are very good. We carried out some comparisons between the 2023 and 2024 bikes and I immediately felt that the new bike has its strengths. It took a little time to adapt of course, after two years on the previous bike, but we’re already a little faster with the new bike. It looks similar to the previous version but, like I said, there are actually many changes and positive points. With the last year's bike we felt we had arrived to the limit, while with this one we have a lot of room for improvement. It has more traction and drive, we’re just not yet able to fully exploit those strong points. But this was just an initial test in which to build confidence. Now the team will analyse the data so that we’re ready for the next test day at Portimão in December. I want to thank everyone on the team, HRC and Tetsuta (Nagashima) for all their hard work.”