Shinya Nakano says his new factory Honda RC212V is now set-up well enough to begin specific tyre development with
Bridgestone.
Up until the Czech Republic Grand Prix weekend the only RC212Vs using the Japanese rubber were less powerful satellite specification machines, run by Nakano and San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mate
Alex de Angelis.
However, Nakano has been handed a factory machine for the remainder of the season - which he will help convert into Honda's 2009 satellite racer - and finished a highly impressive fourth on his race debut with the 'Pedrosa-spec' bike at Brno on Sunday.
After benefitting from a further 67 laps during testing on Monday - in which he was the top Honda rider, fourth overall and half a second under his best race lap - Nakano declared that he is now happy with his base setting and ready to begin more detailed work.
"I'm happy with how the test went today because I improved my lap times from yesterday's race," he began. "We worked mainly on the setting today with the objective of finding the right balance for the bike.
"Over the weekend we only really had two hours to get to know the bike so this morning we tried a few different solutions with the rear and, once we were happy with the base setting, we tested a few tyres and decided which was the best way to go.
"From here onwards I think we can give Bridgestone the right information to develop tyres for this bike," he declared. "Tomorrow we have another day to test, gather data and hopefully make some more improvements."
Team-mate Alex de Angelis isn't scheduled to test on Tuesday, but made the most of the time available by clocking 70 Monday laps as he sought to improve both his speed and front end feeling.
de Angelis set the seventh fastest lap time, less than two tenths behind Nakano and half a second under his best race lap, set en route to eighth position.
