This test has been really interesting, but also pretty difficult. I enjoyed the layout of the track – it’s a new track for me – and I like the track a lot, I enjoyed riding it in the wet too as it had so, so much grip!
However, I struggled to find a feeling in the dry that filled me with confidence. I struggled a bit in braking and turning in, my corner speed is really good but my exit speed isn’t so good…
The long and the short of it is we’ve suffered a bit, but sometimes I think it’s important to have problems in winter testing because if you have problems the whole team becomes determined to fix them. It’s better to find issues like that now than at Donington Park or one of the first rounds.
It’s been a good, fun test. We haven’t got as many laps done as we’d have liked to have done because the weather didn’t completely play ball but I’m happy. Glenn has shown the bike can go around here really fast. He’s the last of the late brakers and he’s made a good bit of time on me at this test in the hard-braking areas, we’re slightly better mid-corner and in exit but overall from a lap time point of view he’s been slightly quicker so it’s clear the bike can do it! I know I can do it, so we just need to find a setting that allows me to do that comfortably.
We’ve got a couple of days off now before returning to track for our final three days in Spain at the Guadix circuit. Hopefully the weather is a bit better as it can get quite cold up there, but Giovanni and the PBM boys are working hard and we’ll experiment some more there and fingers crossed everything will be fine for Donington!