As it looked like Motegi was in no way the best testing base for Honda and Casey Stoner, HRC and the two-times MotoGP world champion went for a 3-day test at Sportsland Sugo, some 200 miles north of Tokyo in the Miyagi Prefecture.
The tests ran according to the schedule, and a bit of rain was present only during the last day, so we might say that this is the first full test HRC did with Stoner in a long time, all three Motegi attempts have been hampered by bad weather.
Stoner rode both the RC213V machine Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez are currently using in MotoGP and got a taste of the 2014 Production Racer. While he was seriously involved in testing out a new frame and a new engine for the factory bikes, most of the production racer duties were carried out by Takumi Takahashi, another HRC test rider.
"It’s been quite a good three days and we got a lot of track time considering it gets dark and cold here quite quickly! We had a busy test schedule based on the current 2013 bike and an updated version of the 2014 bike.
Both have some very positive aspects and we’re just trying to get a better understanding of them. It was a little tricky to get a true feeling here in Sugo as we had no comparison with it being the first time we’ve ridden here. All in all it was a good test and the first time we’ve not been interrupted by rain,” Stoner declared, according to motogp.com.
Stoner rode both the RC213V machine Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez are currently using in MotoGP and got a taste of the 2014 Production Racer. While he was seriously involved in testing out a new frame and a new engine for the factory bikes, most of the production racer duties were carried out by Takumi Takahashi, another HRC test rider.
"It’s been quite a good three days and we got a lot of track time considering it gets dark and cold here quite quickly! We had a busy test schedule based on the current 2013 bike and an updated version of the 2014 bike.
Both have some very positive aspects and we’re just trying to get a better understanding of them. It was a little tricky to get a true feeling here in Sugo as we had no comparison with it being the first time we’ve ridden here. All in all it was a good test and the first time we’ve not been interrupted by rain,” Stoner declared, according to motogp.com.