Marc Marquez’s Honda grows ‘tails’, working for the future

The most obvious was the addition of Ducati-style ‘tails’ on the rear seat unit of his RC213V, but there were also revised front wings and lower fairing channels.

Unlike most other riders, Marquez hadn’t used his in-season aero update until now due to sitting out six races following arm surgery.

But in order to get accurate data on the new developments for the 2023 bike, Marquez was forced to put a freeze on the usual Friday practice set-up and tyre work.

Nonetheless, the 2019 winner was fast throughout the day, finishing seventh in FP1 - but quickest of those not to fit a new soft tyre - then sixth (+0.3s) in FP2, while featuring at the top in both sessions.

“As you saw I tried a new fairing, we already tried this kind of concept a bit in Misano [test] and I felt some positive points but in that moment we decided not to homologate so Honda had the chance to keep working and bring another evolution. That’s what I received here, this evolution in the front, in the bottom area, plus the rear,” Marquez explained.

“It's true that it’s a special circuit to try these things. But I mean one of the problems I have this year is like this heavy feeling in the front, the turning and we are trying to fix by the chassis, by the aerodynamics, by all things, but one of the important things are aerodynamics.

“Today I tried many times the current fairing, the new one, with the ‘tails’, without the ‘tails’ and then I tried only the front part. So we made a mix [of parts] because like this they need to understand.

“But it's so difficult to do this in a race weekend because I cannot work in other parts of the bike. So I stayed with the setup from Thailand.”

Pressed on where he felt a difference, Marquez replied: “The new fairing has a different feeling on the bike, not a better turning … but looks like less physical on this circuit, so for me here it helps.

“But the best lap I did in FP1 was with the current ones. In FP2, I concentrated more on the new ones. So with both there are some positive and negative.

“It’s true that here I think I will keep going with the new ones because I feel like it’s less demanding about the physical condition. But the good place to try will be Malaysia. Because here you don't have long brake points, everything is flowing, so the crucial test will be Malaysia.”

Marquez admitted the time spent on such experiments comes at the expense of preparation for the race, but added:

“Now are in a point where we are not looking [just] for the best result. Of course, I will try to do my 100% tomorrow and on Sunday, but we need to understand also for the future.

“I push Honda a lot to make [new] things to try. So when I receive, I need to try.”

Team-mate Pol Espargaro, who does not have any new parts, led the Honda challenge in third place.