Diogo Moreira staying “calm”, Honda is “super good”
Moto2 champion Diogo Moreira cut 2.5s from his MotoGP pace during the Sepang tests, but didn't beat the lap time of LCR predecessor Somkiat Chantra.
Reigning Moto2 world champion Diogo Moreira completed a ‘tiring’ six days at Sepang with 20th place on the timesheets.
The reigning Moto2 world champion set a best lap of 1m 58.476s, leaving him 2.074s adrift of leader Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).
That was also marginally slower than his predecessor at LCR Honda, Somkiat Chantra, who posted a 1m 58.129s (+1.636s) as a rookie at the same test last year.
Even so, Moreira trimmed two and a half seconds from his pace compared to day one of the Shakedown, ultimately finishing just behind fellow rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu on the Pramac Yamaha.
“The balance is... I’m super tired!” Moreira said. “But I think the progress was super nice. Day by day, the feeling was better.
“We made the base setup for us, did a lot of laps and understand more the bike. I think we are in a good way.”
The 21-year-old explained that the best advice he received was to remain patient.
“Calm… we have all year to improve and learn. The team helped me a lot. So I’m super happy on this point. We need to keep going like this and for sure we need to enjoy.”
Sepang MotoGP Test: Best lap time by manufacturer 2025 vs 2026 | |||
| Manufacturer | 2025 Test | 2026 Test | 2026 Difference |
| Ducati | 1'56.493s | 1'56.402s | -0.091s |
| Aprilia | 1'57.328s | 1'56.526s | -0.802s |
| Honda | 1'57.204s | 1'56.874s | -0.330s |
| KTM | 1'57.175s | 1'57.116s | -0.059s |
| Yamaha | 1'56.724s | 1'57.580s | +0.856s |
Moreira admitted he has had limited opportunity to speak with Honda’s more experienced riders but is convinced of the RC213V’s potential.
“It’s difficult to have some time to speak because at the end I have my work to do and they have their work to do,” he said.
“But I think the bike is super good. We see Mir, also Marini, also Aleix [Espargaro] in the Shakedown was super fast.”
Team-mate Johann Zarco finished 16th overall, 0.875s quicker than the Brazilian, after overcoming early set-up difficulties with the latest Honda.
Moreira now has two further days of testing at Buriram on February 21–22 before making his MotoGP race debut the following weekend.
Chantra, meanwhile, has switched to WorldSBK with Honda's factory team, but will miss the upcoming Phillip Island season opener due to a training injury.
In this article
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
