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The team attended a two-day test on 25-26 March at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit in Montmeló.
The days proved particularly intense for the Malaysian rider who, apart from debuting on a new bike, also had to deal with variable weather conditions, which remained dry and fairly sunny on Friday before becoming cloudy and cold on Saturday morning and wet on Saturday afternoon.
“My first impression of the Honda Superbike has been amazing, as I’d never before had a chance to ride the superbike. Everything is new, not just the bike but also the tyres, the suspension and the crew, and so we’ll all need to get to know each other. It takes time to understand everything, so basically, over the first day and a half in the dry, we just went out on track with a base set-up and lapped with the same settings, without changing anything,” said Hafizh.
“It was important for me to clock up some miles and, in the end, when we wanted to put a new tyre, the rain started. I felt good in the wet but for sure we want to improve in the dry and be quicker than we have been here. We will work on the electronics and set-up at Aragón and I’m sure we’ll be quicker and able to close the gap a little. We will also have a chance to try different tyres, a softer spec that there was no point testing here. I look forward to heading out at Aragón in a few days’ time.”
“There is not too much to say. I’m very sorry I couldn’t ride here in Catalunya as I was looking forward to getting back on my bike after a few months away. Our season start will be challenging but it is what it is, and we will keep pushing and working to make up the time as quickly as possible, starting with the next test sessions in Aragón,” says Leandro Mercado.