Hiro Aoyama has debuted Honda’s new RC213V-RS in the first MotoGP free practice session at Valenica just one day after being announced as HRC’s test rider for 2015 and hit 201.1mph with the new engine.

The Japanese star will ride the bike all weekend before it is handed over to Karel Abraham and Nicky Hayden for testing on Monday. It is thought that Eugene Laverty may have to wait for his go on the bike and he will ride the 2014 RCV1000R that Aoyama is vacating on Sunday night.

Aoyama placed 20th in the first session on the new machine and clearly needs some setup time but the outright pace that Hayden and Scott Redding wanted this year has definitely appeared with Aoyama posting a top speed of 201.1mph compared to Hayden’s best of 193.5mph while Redding managed only 192mph.

The bike has the same engine as Marc Marquez’s works RC213V and the reigning champion was less than one mile an hour faster than Aoyama on the half-mile start/finish straight.

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