Pol Espargaro was back in charge on Sunday heading the combined times as MotoGP testing in Mandalika concluded.

The Repsol rider seems to be feeling right at home on the 2022 RC213V compared to last season’s woes endured on the 21-spec Honda, with the Spaniard showing promise in the hot conditions - track temperatures on the final day hit 62℃ - normally seen as his weakest point.

Despite the new machine being in its infancy, the rest of the paddock have certainly sat up and taken notice with multiple riders stating they believe HRC are the factory most ready to go racing if lights went out tomorrow, while Espargaro agrees with the assessment he was also playing down the achievements produced this weekend.

“Is just one lap in the tests,” Espargaro said casually on his impressive 1’31.060 effort around the brand new 4.3kms layout. “Is good because it shows the high potential of our bike in one lap, which was something that we also needed to improve from last year seeing how fast the Ducatis are in one lap, but the most important is the pace. We have the pace, the bike is working well, we had no crashes so the bike is safer than ever. Also it’s so important to build up the confidence through the first race in Qatar which is very, very close round the corner and feeling already fully ready for it.

“Normally where we are, together with Malaysia, together with Buriram in Thailand, these places were my weakest places,” he continued on the tropical conditions. “It was the bike’s weakest places but it was especially my weakest places. I struggle a lot with hot, I’m not able to ride as I like when we had this kind of floating when the track temperatures grow more than 50 degrees. So being fast in Malaysia and being fast here, for me is so important. We did in one lap but also in the pace, which is when the tyre is starting to drop. Then is where you really feel if the bike is working and you are working or not and for that reason, I think we are ready for Qatar.

“I’ve never been so fast before. I’ve never been for sure on a Honda that works so good but as I said it’s just a test.

“We did two tests where we perform very good in rhythm and in one lap time but at the end of the day no one point is gained today. So what really matters is going to be in a few weeks in Qatar and we must be ready there. All the work we have done here I think it’s more than good. We all feel that we are ready to start the battle.”