Honda test in sweltering heat: Dixon and Chantra sense a step forward

A lot has gone wrong for Honda this year: factory riders Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra have missed numerous races due to injury, and despite an extensive development programme behind the scenes centred on record champion Jonathan Rea, the Fireblade is proving even weaker than in previous years. The crushing reality: whilst Ducati has already clinched the Constructors’ World Championship with four rounds to spare and leads the standings at the summer break with 496 points – the maximum! – the Honda riders have scraped together a paltry 20 points. This leaves the world’s largest motorbike manufacturer languishing in last place – 90 points behind the team in second-last place.

Honda is certainly not lacking in commitment: whilst Dixon and Chantra were fine-tuning their set-up on Thursday and Friday (13–14 August) at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, the test team featuring Rea was in action elsewhere. For the two regular riders, the test was valuable not only from a development perspective: neither was familiar with the circuit in central France, so it also served as good preparation for the first event after the summer break, taking place there on the first weekend of September.

With track temperatures reaching 65 (!) degrees Celsius, Dixon and Chantra completed 69 and 103 laps on Thursday, and 70 and 94 on Friday. Whilst the main focus on the first day was on the basic set-up of the CBR1000RR-R, work on the second day centred on the suspension, the electronics and comparing different set-ups. The data collected will serve as the basis for the next test on 25–26 August at Estoril, near Lisbon.

Jake Dixon

Foto: honda

New territory for both Honda riders

“I like the track at Magny-Cours,” said Dixon. “It’s a bit tricky to get to grips with, but it’s a lovely track. It was very hot. Ultimately, it was just a test – there are no prizes to be won – so we focused on working through the test plan prepared by the team and gathering as much information as possible. We had a lot to do, but I’m satisfied.”

The Thai rider Chantra added: “As it was my first time riding at Magny-Cours, I was able to spend a lot of time getting to know the circuit whilst also working on the bike. We were able to gather a lot of useful information. That’s important because during a race weekend we don’t have as much time to try out different solutions, whereas now we were able to focus on this sort of work. I was able to improve my lap time from session to session; on the first day, I set my fastest time in the afternoon, which was very positive.”

Honda did not release any lap times, nor did the other participants. Alongside Honda, the BMW works team was present with its regular riders Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci, as well as test rider Michael van der Mark; the Marc VDS privateer Ducati team, featuring Sam Lowes, was also in attendance.