Interwetten achieve test goal

Improved lap times and a better base setting were the results of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team’s experience at Sepang, where rider Hiroshi Aoyama finished inside the top 10 on the timesheet on board the RC212V.

Aoyama’s best lap of 2’01.692 on Friday was 0.727s faster than his time from the previous day, as the Japanese rider continues to prepare for his debut season in the premier class.

“The set-up is not perfect yet and I’m sure we can still be faster, but today we took a big step forward and we found good base settings,” said Aoyama. “My feeling with the bike improves every time and I am confident we will find a good direction for Qatar, and that we will continue our improvement. We just have to keep working.”

Aoyama’s crew chief Tom Jojic was also more satisfied with the results compared to the first day. He said: “This test was a very good one for us. Today was a positive day and also Hiroshi was much happier than yesterday. We made some changes on the bike, but we followed a strict test plan and that was, I think, a very good decision. We were able to improve the bike because of that and we have a clear direction for the next test in Qatar.”

Jojic added: “Hiroshi still has some problems with turning. The bike is quite heavy in turns and he also needs some more rear grip. That is what we will work on in Qatar.”