Strong and fruitful test in Catalunya for Team HRC; just bruises for Lecuona after a crash

“I’m very happy for several reasons, starting with the very thing that put an early end to a very positive test, funnily enough. I was so lucky to come away from a high-side with only a black eye and some bruises but nothing broken. I lost the front at corner 14, over a bump, I think. I wasn’t doing anything “crazy” but it’s true I was on a qualifying tyre and so was riding fast. The bike hit my right foot in the gravel, and a stone hit my eye after I lost my visor. Anyway, the tests at the hospital were all OK and I feel fine, and basically no pain. As for the test, I’m very pleased because after trying some new items and settings at Aragón last week, we’ve been able to complete back-to-back tests here at Catalunya, a very different track to Motorland and also more challenging in terms of tyre drop-off. We’ve worked well and have had confirmation that we’ve really taken a step forward. I lapped alone basically the whole time and our race pace was good, better than last year, my fastest lap quicker than my pole position time. This is only testing of course, and conditions have been different too, ideal conditions basically, but the feeling has been very good and I’ve felt comfortable on the bike. And this is the most important thing. We basically repeated most of the tests we did last week, including work with the bike geometries and exhaust, and focused a bit more on electronics where we know we have margin for improvement. We also completed some long runs, and lap times were again fast and consistent. Big thanks to the team and everyone at Honda because they are doing a very good job.”

“It has again been a very productive test, apart from one thing we must keep working on, which is making the most of the new, soft tyre over the flying lap. We tried a lot of things and collected a large amount of data that we can now analyse to achieve this. That aside, we’re very happy because we’ve shown strong race pace which is ultimately the most important thing. We arrived here after another positive two-day session in Aragón and so were able to complete some useful back-to-back tests. We’re generally trying to improve the base setup of the bike, not specifically for the Montmelo track but in general. The feeling’s good and this is very important especially here at Barcelona where tyre management is crucial. We improved on our best race time set here, and on used tyres, so I’m quite happy with that. Thanks as always to the team for their hard work and now let’s focus on Assen after taking a few days off.”