Aoyama 'killing RC213V-RS power too much'
Hiroshi Aoyama is looking to unleash more engine performance from the new Honda RC213V-RS's Open class bike during day two of the Valencia MotoGP season finale.
Aoyama has been given the honour of racing the new machine prior to becoming a HRC test rider in 2015.
Unlike the current RCV1000R, which Aoyama has spent the rest of this season on at Aspar, the 'RS' is powered by the same pneumatic-valve engine as the title-winning RC213V.
The increase in power was obvious from Aoyama reaching 324.1km/h in Friday practice, as quick as the Factory Yamahas and just a few km/h behind the official Repsol Hondas.
However Aoyama was only 21st on the timesheet, behind riders still using the RCV1000R, despite being at least 10km/h quicker than them on the straight.
"The new bike looks the same, but inside it is completely different. So I'm struggling a bit to adapt to the bike," Aoyama explained. "The engine has more power, but together with the Marelli [Open class] electronics - at the moment we are killing the power too much. So I had top speed but I was losing a lot in acceleration.
"We started with quite a smooth engine character. We had many mappings available, a little too much. Also gearing. With this bike we do not have experience and so tomorrow we need to adjust the gearing.
"This bike has a little more power range, but if you are below there is nothing. The old engine had a narrow powerband and less overall power, but was more progressive."
The Japanese added: "We tried to improve from the morning to the afternoon, especially in the suspension side. Because when the engine character changed we needed to adapt the suspension also, but we went in not the correct way and lost the sensation of the bike a little bit.
"Tomorrow we must find out which direction to go and improve the lap time. The problem is that we don't have much time to work. This bike has a lot of parameters that can be adjusted so we have to find out which to adjust and which we don't touch.
"As I said, today we were killing too much power and tomorrow we have to find a good compromise."
The new bike looked to give Aoyama an improved chance of bridging the eight point gap to top Open Honda rider Scott Redding in the final standings, however the set-up issues meant the Englishman was 0.7s faster on Friday.
Aoyama's RC213V-RS will be handed to team-mate Nicky Hayden and Cardion AB's Karel Abraham to share during next week's Valencia test. Aoyama's replacement Eugene Laverty and fellow 2015 rookie Jack Miller will use the old RCV1000R for their first outing.
Aoyama expects to take part in his first test as a Honda development rider at the end of November.
