Makoto Tanaka Quotations

Nicky has had a really good day, especially with the performance he showed on the race tyres. His times would have been good enough to win Sunday's race here comfortably. Nicky also improved the setting of the machine, which will help him in the remaining six races.

Nicky has had a really good day, especially with the performance he showed on the race tires. His times would have been good enough to win Sunday's race here comfortably. Nicky also improved the setting of the machine, which will help him in the remaining six races. Max tried the new machine and found many positive areas and gave us some idea of the areas of the machine which need attention. During the next few days we will decide a further test programme for the new machine and make a plan for its race debut.

A mixed day really. Nicky started well but couldn't improve this afternoon when the team tried some new adjustments that didn't work too well. Max again seems to be having problems with his machine in the turns and we need to look at the data to see if we can all come up with a solution. It is all very close today. The top 14 riders are all within one second of each other but, we need to be higher.

Max gave us some idea of the areas of the machine which need attention. During the next few days we will decide a further test programme for the new machine and make a plan for its race debut.

Because he spent a lot of time on the development of the new machine in the winter tests, Nicky had not had sufficient time to find the best set-up for his bike. However, he showed his ability perfectly today, riding aggressively and calmly until the last minute of the race. So, I also want to say to Nicky, thanks for his very good job today.

Dani made very good step-by-step progress. He tried a qualifying tyre for the first time and he was very good, we are pleased. He also did a longer session and was consistently fast, so we are happy with this too.

This test is very important for Honda and today the track was very hot which didn't help the lap times. Again, Nicky had many things to test. His time wasn't the fastest, but I'm not worried about this, it's a three day test and we have more new things to try tomorrow.