HRC team manager Alberto Puig has admitted that Honda’s new MotoGP engine didn’t live up to dyno expectations at Jerez.
The prototype engine was raced by wild-card Aleix Espargaro during the Spanish MotoGP weekend, then handed to Joan Mir for the Monday test, while team-mate Luca Marini concentrated on chassis development.
Afterwards, Mir concluded the new engine offered “a small step in the right direction… A little more power, a little more acceleration.” Puig confirmed that optimism from the test bench hadn’t yet materialised on track.
“We still could not find what we expected, in terms of what we saw on the dyno,” Puig told MotoGP.com.
“But we still need more investigation and we believe that there is something that still is missing, and if we can find it, we can see the same result as in the dyno, on track.”
Espargaro, who rode to 14th place in the grand prix before a tyre pressure penalty, had also played down the engine’s impact.
“To be honest, this is not the best track to test an engine,” Puig acknowledged. “In this track, the speed is not the key element. But in any case, the first initial feeling of a rider is really important.”
Looking ahead, Puig explained that RC213V development is ongoing in all areas, while the persistent vibration issue remains one of the team’s biggest headaches.
“We are trying to test everything. Engine, chassis, all areas,” Puig said.
“The test team is really active – we have Aleix, Taka [Nakagami], Stefan [Bradl] also. But there is not one specific area that we are focusing [on]. We are focusing basically on all the things that are really not working.
“One of the things that we are really struggling more with at this moment is we are having some vibration [chatter] and we need to understand the reason why.”
After rising to second in the early constructors’ standings, Honda heads into next weekend’s French MotoGP having slipped behind Yamaha and KTM for fourth place.
LCR’s Johann Zarco remains the leading Honda rider in the world championship standings, in seventh, with Marini twelfth.
Mir, tenth in the BMW Best Qualifier ranking, is yet to convert his one-lap speed into race finishes and is down in 18th.
Rookie Somkiat Chantra is yet to score.
