Testing continues for the Repsol Honda team in Qatar

A few days off and back to work, Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl assemble their respective Repsol Honda Team machines for the final test before the 2021 season.

The high winds that plagued the first Qatar test had subsided when running resumed in Doha. Conditions improved significantly and times were dropping rapidly, and the unofficial lap record was even broken towards the end of the day.

The time between tests gave Pol Espargaro and his team a chance to digest everything they had learned in the first few days and returned to the Losail International Circuit to do it all over again. In the middle of the day, Espargaro shot to the top of the time sheets with a 1’54.272 – each lap increased his confidence and knowledge of the Honda. Pol would increase his pace further and jump back to second place with just over an hour of testing time. The day delivered a total of 53 more laps for the newest addition to the Repsol Honda team’s garage. He finished fifth overall and, thanks to a 1’53.899 as the top Honda, was 0.8 seconds faster than his time on Sunday.

HRC test driver Stefan Bradl raced to the top of timesheets again when the action began at the Losail Circuit, challenging the established Grand Prix drivers as he worked through a busy testing schedule for Honda. Bradl’s day was interrupted by a fall at Turn 2, which lasted just under four hours. The German sat outside for the rest of the day. A medical examination revealed no major injuries. Bradl and the team decided to rest to recover for the next two days.