Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea could have done with the rest of the week at Misano to go through all the options available with a new fly-by-wire electronic system the team may bring in next season.
It is similar to the one currently not helping Ryuichi Kiyonari in the British Superbike Championship but his team-mate Shane Byrne is getting along with it. Rea also tested a stack of 2012 rubber brought in by Pirelli but he didn't get time to lap on the sticky stuff.
"It’s been a real proper test, this, and we had a lot of stuff to work through. On top of that, Pirelli also brought some new rubber to try so, in the end, we actually ran out of time. We probably needed the rest of this week to get through everything, but we can definitely see the potential of the fly-by-wire system that I tested for the first time today," said the young Irishman.
"Also, I’m able to ride a lot more in my comfort zone with this new package and it helped with engine braking, too. Going back to Misano was no problem for me and, in fact, I was going through the corner where I crashed faster than I did during the race weekend in June.
"Pirelli brought a lot of soft rubber and we could have used a qualifier to try for a time, but we had to keep our heads down and keep focused on the work we had to get through. The lap time is probably about where we are at the moment, but we know that the next step forward will push us back to the front."
