To Alex Rins, author of two victories in the last three Grands Prix, the transition from Suzuki to Honda seems difficult at the end of the three days of MotoGP testing in Sepang where the Spanish rider carried out his first official 2023 test with the LCR Honda Castrol team.
After six years spent with a manufacturer, in this case that of Hamamatsu, it is often difficult to immediately find one's brands and competitiveness, but moving from a very efficient 2022 Suzuki GSX-RR to a 213 Honda RC2023V always looking for direction certainly doesn't help in competing for the top spots in the rankings.
20th at 1,196 seconds from Luca marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) for its first drive in Valencia, álex Kidneys returned to Malaysia. 18th, his time of 1'59.963 places him 1,493 seconds behind Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).
The 27-year-old from Barcelona, however, made good progress during the mostly rainy intermediate day, improving his best time by 8 tenths to 1'59.163, which together with a slower track, propelled him to 8th position of the day, just 0,427 seconds of Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac Racing).
Unfortunately, despite an improvement of 2 tenths by number 42, the general improvement in times the next day dropped him to 19th place, 1,043 seconds behind. Luca marini, in 1'58.932 after the 149 laps completed.
It is therefore certainly not the ideal start to the season for álex Kidneys, but the man is far from unworthy, having to combine the handling of a new machine with the collection of data that can give the HRC a direction to develop it. He tested different parts and based on his first impressions and feedback from the team, the 2023 specification appears superior to last year's, although final evaluations determined that traction, grip on the The angle and stability when braking are the areas to be strengthened for the Tokyo firm.
We'll have to see what Honda brings to Portimão, but there are only two days of IRTA testing left before the first clash in Portugal, which effectively excludes the former Suzuki technical manager recently hired as the Messiah by HRC , Ken Kawauchi, can revolutionize the RC213V in the allotted time…
Alex Rins : " I am satisfied with our work. The rain compromised our plans, but overall I am satisfied. We tested a few parts and even did a race simulation, and since this is our third time using this bike, we found some interesting things. The basis of the bike is not yet clear, but we are working hard. From what I've heard, all four Honda riders have similar opinions, so let's hope to try different things in Portimão. How Ken can help us won't become apparent until the middle of the season. But it's good to have someone like him who has a lot of experience with the Suzuki and knows us well. But I don't want to make a Suzuki of the Honda.
The data from the first day showed that I was slower than the other Honda riders in the fast corners, so we modified the rear a little. This brought something and we were able to confirm this improvement on Saturday morning.
Mir's bike is smoother, and Marquez is as aggressive as me. I'm not comfortable, and I'm not used to it. The engine isn't bad, but it would be nice if we could add a little more in fifth and sixth gear. But I remain quite confident. I don't know about other Honda riders, but it's not that bad for me. »
Ranking of MotoGP Test results at Sepang J3:
Combined ranking of the MotoGP Test at Sepang J1/J2/J3:
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
