Gabor Talmacsi satisfied with MotoGP debut.

Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi finished his first MotoGP race in 17th place for the Scot Honda team in Sunday's Grand Prix of Catalunya.

Talmacsi - who finished last season on a 125cc machine, then split with the Aspar-run Balatonring 250cc team after just three rounds of this season - only rode the RC212V for the first time on Friday afternoon.

The former 125cc world champion finished FP1 with a best lap time 4.616sec from the top, but had closed the deficit to 2.631sec by the end of warm-up.

Talmacsi, unsurprisingly 19th and last in all track sessions prior to the race, gained two positions due to accidents ahead during the grand prix - including team-mate Yuki Takahashi - and was satisfied to have gone the distance.

"Not bad. Less tired than after some 125 races," he said. "After four laps, in which I tried to keep the pace of the others, I understood that that was not my rhythm, so I decided not to risk. This is learning time for me. I had a lot of fun and I understood a few things, for example, that I want a wider handlebars."

Talmacsi finished 31.767sec behind 16th placed Niccolo Canepa (Pramac Ducati) by the end of the 25 laps.

Talmacsi's fastest lap, on lap 2, was 2.794sec slower than the overall best by Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) and 1.118sec behind next slowest Canepa.