Moreira on Adaptation & Lessons from Marc Marquez

Diogo Moreira completed a good approach in his second outing with the MotoGP in Sepang, at least in his assessment. The current Moto2 champion made his debut in the premier class in the post-season tests in Valencia, and in Malaysia he completed a total of six days of testing: three of the Shakedown, in which he was able to participate as a rookie, and three of the collective tests, in which he had to deal with his first crash riding a premier class motorcycle.

After the accident on the first day, the Brazilian from the LCR team continued to improve until closing Thursday with the 19th best time, a 1’58″476 which left him just behind the other 2026 rookie, the three-time Superbike world champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu (who recorded a 1’58″326). The Brazilian therefore preceded only two test riders: Lorenzo Savadori, replacing Jorge Martin on the Aprilia, and Augusto Fernandez, who managed to return to the track with the Yamaha after problems with the V4 engine.

However, beyond the times, which in this type of testing are not important, Moreira took the sensations into account and assessed his progress positively when interviewed by the media, including Motorsport.com: “I think the progress was very good. Day after day, the feeling was better. The afternoon of the last day was even better. I think the basic configuration for us was good. We did a lot of laps and we understood the bike better. I think we are on the right track,” he began.

Regarding the best advice received this week, the number 10 underlined: “In the end, have calm. We have the whole year to improve and learn. We have time to do it. We have to learn, also with the team, which helps me a lot. I’m very happy at the moment. We have to continue like this. Day after day, race after race, we have to continue to improve. In the end, as I said, I have the whole year to learn. Without a doubt, we have to have fun.”

There was doubt that Moreira had failed to speak to the other Honda riders. And Diogo actually recounted his experience with the other HRC members: “Yes, in the end it’s difficult to find time to talk. Because I have my job to do and they have theirs too, with their team. But yes, I think the bike is very good. We see that Joan Mir is fast, also Luca Marini. Aleix in the Shakedown, who was very fast. So I think the bike is good. Therefore, we have to learn in our own way and focus on our work.”

When asked if he had managed to do a Sprint or long race simulation, he explained: “No, in the end no. Because I was very tired and there was no point in doing the race simulation. Because in the end, doing laps just for the sake of doing them, there was no point. So, in the end, we did the Sprint simulation on the last day of the Shakedown. Now we’ll see in Thailand.”

Speaking to DAZN, he provided some more details about his test in Sepang: “It’s a new bike. I’m still a bit tense. I can’t have the ‘flow’ I would like. MotoGP bikes have a lot of power, you have to lift the bike very early and ride it with the accelerator. The very long corners are the ones that give me the most difficulty, while I’m stronger when braking and I get along quite well.”

When asked if he had taken any rider as a reference, Moreira only indicated the current MotoGP champion: “I would say Marc Marquez. When we train for starts, at the end you have to do the complete lap, and I put myself behind him. He definitely went at half throttle, while I pushed. Above all, I saw that it changes a lot between the trajectories that I did and the ones I have to do”, he reiterated.

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– The Motorsport.com team