Britain’s Bradley Smith brushed off the disappointment of only finishing tenth in Sunday’s Catalan MotoGP round to chase reigning champion Marc Marquez hard in the subsequent test session, lapping only 0.040s slower than the runaway series leader.
Marquez topped the sheets with a 1’41.184 on his 44th of 64 laps, slightly slower than his front-row qualifying time but Smith managed to go two-tenths quicker than his time from Saturday, which he said pleased him greatly.
Although the Oxfordshire rider had no new parts to try, he did work on engine braking and said that the Monster Yamaha is now close to the Hondas and was even able to match their braking performance in some areas.
“We followed a programme to test everything we have done in the last three or four races to clarify exactly where we want to be and that everything is better, that’s everything from geometry to electronics, that’s why I did 74 laps,” said Smith, speaking at the track,” said Smith, speaking at the track.
“We got there in the end, I am pleased I bettered my laptime from qualifying as that is not easy to do in a test, so glad to have squeezed that and I seem to have found some more pace on old tyres as well. I was able to mid-to-low 1’42s quite often.
“In terms of engine braking, we wanted more rear contact, to try and brake like the Honda can. It’s been our weakness for the whole season but we are getting closer. I rode behind Bradl and Pedrosa today and we are at least matching them, which is obviously a big step.”
