Honda Racing UK spent three days in Andalusia with both its BSB and road racing riders for 2024. While its BSB riders were limited in what they could do by the test ban in that championship, Honda's road rider were able to complete a more thorough test.

The BSB test ban meant that the road racers were the primary focus of the test. Dean Harrison ran a road-spec 2024 Honda Fireblade, shod with Metzeler tyres, mostly as a tyre test, and spent a day on the 2024 CBR600RR that he will campaign in the Supersport class at both the Isle of Man TT and North West 200.

Nathan Harrison, on the other hand, spent all three days on Superstock-spec machinery, while Honda’s third roads rider, John McGuinness, was absent from the test, instead heading to Portimao for the press launch of the 2024 Honda Fireblade and CBR600RR.

“It has definitely been a busy few days,” Dean Harrison said. “But it has been really good to get some time out with the team on both the Superbike and the 600. I’ve felt at home straight away and feel like I've bedded into the team quickly, there are a lot of new faces and names to learn!”

Harrison pointed out that the 2024 Fireblade is not only new to him, but also to the team. “The Superbike is all new so the focus has just been on learning the bike and getting laps in. I’ve also managed to get through a pretty comprehensive Metzeler tyre test and we seem to have found a good direction there.”

There was also time for the 2019 Senior TT winner to get out on the Supersport bike. “I really enjoyed jumping onto the CBR600RR,” he said, “and I feel like out of the box we are already in the right ballpark so we can go away and continue to build from there.”

Nathan Harrison had been at Andalucia previously, and noted some improvement. He said: “I was here at Andalucia a few weeks ago with my own 2023 bike and I’m lapping quicker and more consistently here now, so I feel like we’ve made a good step forward, both with the new bike and in myself.

“This is the first time that I have ridden with a split throttle so the focus has been on getting that into a sweet spot and learning how to utilise it best. I’ve gelled with it really quickly so I have to say a big thank you to the team for organising the test ahead of the year.”