Aleix Espargaro’s first thoughts about Honda MotoGP bike: ‘He was impressed’

Honda’s factory MotoGP riders have offered an insight into Aleix Espargaro’s initial thoughts on the RC213V after riding it at the post-season Barcelona test.

Three-time grand prix winner Espargaro retired from full-time racing at the conclusion of the Solidarity Grand Prix, and has embarked on his new role with Honda as a test rider.

The Spaniard spun his first laps on the RC213V on Tuesday at Barcelona and was an impressive 14th on the timesheets ahead of full-time rider Joan Mir.

Espargaro didn’t speak to the media, but Luca Marini was able to open up about his conversations with Honda’s new test rider.

“For me it was fantastic that Aleix was able to try the bike for the first time here in Barcelona, because it’s maybe his best track,” he said.

“He is super-fast here and he achieved great results with Aprilia in this track. It will help a lot for the development of the bike, especially his first impression here.

“I just had a little talk with him during the test and I still need to talk with him deeper. But the lap times are good.

“His impression is telling us something and in my opinion he just needs a little bit more experience on the bike because it’s quite different compared to the others. But he will find the way to help us.”

Mir noted that Espargaro found the same strong points on the Honda that the others have but also the same weaknesses, joking that he was “impressed” by the latter.

“He tried our base, the standard bike that we have. From what I know he didn’t try anything new,” Mir, who was not happy with Honda’s lack of new items at the test, added.

“He was impressed. He will speak a bit about it. It’s true that what he mentioned is something that is the general comment we always good, the lack of torque of this bike, the lack of grip, the lack of power.

“In the other places where we don’t complain so much, he didn’t complain so much. In the turning area he says he feels more or less ok.

“What is the pure bike and the pure geometry of the bike he didn’t complain about so much, because actually it’s not bad. But the lack of grip and acceleration and top speed that we have, he was impressed.”

Honda factory team boss Alberto Puig praised Espargaro’s “precise” feedback to the Honda engineers at the test team.

“We are really, really happy - really surprised,” he told motogp.com.

“Not surprised, because the guy is fast. He was riding for the podium on Sunday.

“So, the guy has the speed, but I was very, very impressed about the way he was talking to our engineers: very straight, very precise and very clear in what he thinks the strong points and the bad points are of the bike.

“This is what we were looking for: an experience guy, but also a fast guy, because at the end of the day you need to make a combination.

“But very positive, he looks happy and I’m sure that his contribution to us and Honda is going to be important. We start and we should make a good plan with him.”