Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa sampled the manufacturer's prototype 2016 MotoGP bike for the first time on Thursday, during a test at Misano. The Italian MotoGP venue hosted a two-day private test, and Honda elected to use the second day to give its factory riders their first taste of the 2016 RC213V.
Including his runs on the new bike, Marquez completed 86 laps, with his best time a 1m32.00s.
"I'm happy with these past two days, we have done a great job on the set-up and now I feel more comfortable," said Marquez, who won last Sunday's race at the Sachsenring.
"Especially this morning, when the temperature was a little bit lower, we were able to find something that has improved my feeling and now we will have to see if this will work also in the coming circuits. I also tried the 2016 prototype finding something good, but we will test it again tomorrow with next year's tyres to give the HRC engineers more data to work with.
"In the afternoon the track temperature was really too hot, but I am happy with the pace I was able to keep even in these circumstances."
Honda will stay at Misano on Friday for a test with Michelin, which is continuing to prepare for its return to MotoGP as sole tire supplier in 2016.
"It has been a very hard job as the temperature was really hot but I am happy," said Pedrosa, who logged 71 laps. "I also did a couple of exits with the prototype of the 2016 bike.
"It was important to give to the engineers some feedback about the direction we are heading. Tomorrow we will test it again with 2016 tires as this bike will have to work on them."
The factory Ducati and Suzuki teams were also present at the circuit, which has recently been resurfaced, along with Pramac Ducati. Andrea Iannone's Thursday running finished at the mid-day break due to a reoccurrence of the shoulder injury he suffered in May.
"I'm just disappointed I had to finish the test early, but unfortunately from this morning onwards my shoulder was hurting really bad and I was unable to lap quickly or push hard," the Ducati rider said. "Today however I had some good sensations on the bike, we did a good job and picked up a lot of important information for the future."
