Following the opening day of the Sepang MotoGP test, Marc Marquez has admitted Honda still need to find more pace in order to compete with their rivals, although his physical condition was a big step forward compared to last season.
The six-time MotoGP champion eventually slipped out of the top ten after significant improvements from the likes of Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco and Fabio Di Giannantonio saw them leapfrog the Repsol Honda rider.
Until that point Marquez spent most of the day around six tenths down on pacesetter Jorge Martin, before Bezzecchi’s effort of a 1:58.470s moved the benchmark time forward by nearly three tenths.
Keen to provide Marquez with a bike capable of challenging Ducati and Aprilia, both of whom dominated the opening day of action, Honda supplied four different bikes to Marquez’s side of the garage, although differences were small, said the Spaniard.
"We had many bikes in the garage. Not very different, they are quite similar," added Marquez. "Between one there is a big difference but we started the day with more-or-less the base from Valencia and then we started working through some concepts and some things.
"It’s difficult sometimes in the pre-seaon because every run is quite a big difference on the bike. But step-by-step I feel good on the bike, but for me, it was a positive day regarding my physical condition because I feel much better than last year. This was very important.
"About the new bike, the feeling is that the new concept is more-or-less like Valencia. Tomorrow we will start working and also in Portimao I think something new will arrive.
"Let’s see. We need to keep working in our garage, get all the information and improve tenth-by-tenth because still we are far from the top riders."
