Petronas MIE Racing Honda World Supersport rider, Kaito Toba, took part in the two-day World Superbike test at Jerez.
At the Jerez World Superbike test the only Honda representative from the World Superbike paddock was Kaito Toba.
The Petronas MIE Racing Honda World Supersport rider was out on track during the two-day test. The Japanese rider was on his MIE Racing Honda CBR600RR and a reference bike provided by Honda.
In 2024 the two Honda Supersport riders struggled against Ducati, Yamaha, MV Agusta and Triumph. Toba and his teammate Khairul Idham Pawi had a disappointing 2024 season as they ended the year in 23rd and 37th in the Championship standings.
"We had our 2024 racing bikes with us. But Honda also provided us with two reference motorcycles to test. The goal was to finalize the kit for next year," Technical Director Mick Shanley said in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com.
"In general, we try to push the 600cc engine to get the maximum performance out of it, to catch up with the bigger bikes of the competition. It's difficult, but we're optimizing what we can."
'The focus was to do as many laps as possible with the 2025 bike.'
At the Circuito de Jerez, only one of the riders was out on track. "Kaito [Toba] was there for the test, Khairul [Idham Pawi] suffered a training injury. We decided that he should heal the injury first. So Kaito was the only rider, he had a lot to do and had to complete a proper program," said Shanley.
Regarding new parts that were used in the Jerez test, Shanley said: "We focused on the two bikes that were provided to us from Japan, one of which was a 2024 reference bike. They wanted to check some things in comparison to our bikes, such as the chassis and suspension, because our bikes are currently a hybrid. The focus on the second day of testing was to do as many laps as possible with the 2025 bike, to see where we stand."