Repsol runs Ohlins, Gresini new Showa.

Repsol Honda remained non-committal about the chances of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso racing with Ohlins suspension, after trying the brand back-to-back with existing Showa parts during Monday's Brno test, while over at Gresini Honda Toni Elias tried a new Showa frotn fork.

The satellite Honda LCR squad is the only RC212V team currently running Ohlins suspension, but Ohlins is already used by all of Honda's MotoGP rivals - Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki and Hayate.

Honda with Ohlins forks, Brno MotoGP Test 2009
Honda with Ohlins forks, Brno MotoGP Test 2009
© Gold and Goose

Repsol Honda remained non-committal about the chances of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso racing with Ohlins suspension, after trying the brand back-to-back with existing Showa parts during Monday's Brno test, while over at Gresini Honda Toni Elias tried a new Showa frotn fork.

The satellite Honda LCR squad is the only RC212V team currently running Ohlins suspension, but Ohlins is already used by all of Honda's MotoGP rivals - Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki and Hayate.

Pedrosa, who had been best of the rest behind Fiat Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi for much of the race weekend - until Lorenzo's late crash promoted him to second position - was once again third fastest behind the factory M1s on Monday.

The Spaniard beat his best race lap by half a second to finish the day 0.125sec behind Rossi and 0.576sec from Lorenzo. Pedrosa set his best time in the morning, before the switch to Ohlin in the afternoon, which was hampered by rain showers.

Nevertheless, Pedrosa felt his Ohlins debut had been 'promising'.

"In the morning we worked on some set-up improvements from the race weekend and we were able to find some more speed," confirmed Dani. "After lunch we were set to try some new suspension components which we managed to do when the track dried after the rain. Of course it takes time to perfect the set-up when you try new things, but our pace was quite good and the feeling was promising. Overall, this was a worthwhile test."

Team-mate Dovizioso repeated his race position of fifth at the test, whilst beating his best race lap by 0.23sec to finish just over one second behind Pedrosa.

"It was an interesting day because we tried quite a few set-up options including some different suspension parts, and this was a first for me," he said of the Ohlins trial. "Because of the limited time, we couldn't evaluate their full potential, but the initial feedback was positive.

"We also continued to work with the set-up for the new swingarm we used this weekend and managed to improve our speed. Honda is working very hard for the remaining races and also for next year, and the team is fully committed," he insisted.

Meanwhile, Showa - a subsidiary of Honda - indicated it will fight to stay on the MotoGP grid by presenting a new evolution front fork for Elias to try on his factory spec RCV.

Elias, who took his first podium of the season with third in Sunday's race, set the sixth fastest time at the test, just 0.077sec slower than Dovizioso.

"The show of affection I was given by so many people after the race last night was really nice and I appreciated it a lot," said Toni, who has lost his Gresini seat for 2010.

"It is a result that gives me a lot of pleasure although at the same time it kind of makes me angry because even though I am scoring top results year after year I still don't have a solution for next season. Anyway, I want to stay optimistic and I will be giving my absolute best until the end of the season and show everybody my true worth over these last six races.

"This morning we tried a new footrest position, which I liked, but then the rain came and set back our plans. Once it dried out again we were able to get back out and try a new modified fork that Showa brought here. Unfortunately we didn't do enough laps with it to make a proper evaluation and we might need to do some more tests during free practice at Indianapolis," revealed Elias, who lapped 0.1sec under his best race lap.

Team-mate Alex de Angelis withdrew from the test due to back pain he had suffered immediately after Sunday's race.

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