Despite a dominant win at Austin’s MotoGP round on Sunday, Honda’s problems have not been eradicated as Marc Marquez confirmed he is ‘still missing something’ with the RC213V.
HRC engineers are being encouraged to look at the bike’s chassis development in order to get rid of the acceleration and grip problems the bike still suffers from as various iterations of engine - including a reversed crank - have made little headway and the reigning champion is effectively still running a 2014 chassis.
Marquez was rampant in Texas after he made his way past team-mate Dani Pedrosa and then left him and Valentino Rossi flapping in the breeze but says there is still work to do.
"It's important because we are third again in the championship. Before the race I was eighth, and I said 'OK, we need to start coming back’. Still I don't feel perfect with the bike, we are missing something. Now we have an important test at Le Mans and an important race at Jerez,” said Marquez, speaking in Austin.
"We need to understand, because if we understand it there and fix this problem, we can fight strongly for the championship. I was playing a lot with the setup, trying to find stability and confidence. For some reason we didn't find it, then I was looking to tyre life because the front tyre I was destroying a lot.
"On Friday with just 12 laps my front tyre was destroyed and impossible to ride fast. Then on Saturday we did a great pace, but we don't know if it was the temperature. Sunday, everyone suffered but we were able to manage quite well and I felt better. But still it didn't feel like I wanted."
