Honda's Jonathan Rea has spoken about his first foray on Casey Stoner's RC213V at the Brno MotoGP test today where he was only three seconds off the pace of fastest man Cal Crutchlow.
The Isle of Man resident flew into the test off the back of two World Superbike races in Russia yesterday and jumped straight onto the Repsol Honda, complete with carbon brakes, different electronics and the difficult to learn Bridgestone tyres and acquitted himself brilliantly.
"You can't underestimate how tough this is. These are the best riders in the world and the best technology in the world. I have to learn from everyone, my team-mate looking at data and this helped a lot. I would like to go away, adjust my head and come back tomorrow but we will have to wait for Aragon,|" said Rea, speaking at Brno.
"The biggest difference was the tyres, especially the front tyre and how much you have to load it to get the bike to turn. With the Superbike front tyre, you go in with lean angle, release the brake and turn the corner but with this tyre, you have to go very strong on the brakes with with lean angle, 50 degrees and hard on the brakes it's crazy.
"Even though it's a motorbike with two wheels, it feels completely different to a Superbike. The biggest difference is the tyres. The construction is very strong compared to Pirelli but slowly we got a little but faster and a little bit faster.
"In the end we ran out of time, I would like to stay here for a week and get better and better but I'm so happy to finish the day - I've learned a lot. These bikes are so different, I just attacked it slowly but surely.
"I was so tired doing a full weekend of Superbike. I got on the plane thinking, 'Man, what am I doing? I'm going to ride the best bike in the world and I'm already tired'. I had no pressure on myself. For sure, there are people who will try to make comparisons but for me this was fun and I have been like a sponge trying to process all the information.
"Yesterday I came from two 25-lap Superbike races, which was already tough, so to come here and ride a completely different track on a different bike with different tyres and electronics was one of the biggest tasks I have ever undertaken. The mechanics were explaining all about the bike this morning but I had to tell them to stop because it was too much information for my brain.
"I have no expectations for Misano, I have no idea how competitive we can be. I have had one day on the bike so I don't expect anything more than to finish the race and to enjoy myself. I believe in my ability and I know if I can get a good feeling on the bike then for sure I can do a good job. Now I have a better understanding of what I need to do to improve."
