The Honda TT Legends team have completed pre-season testing at the Magny Cours race course in France ahead of the season-opening Bol d'Or 24-hour 2012 Endurance World Championship meet.
Set to take place on April 14th and 15th, the event follows a busy winter testing period for the team, with a host of new updates and improvements for the 2012-specification Honda Fireblade having been implemented.
Race manager Russell Benney commented: "We had five or six elements developed during the off-season that needed more miles and this test has allowed us to see how these will perform. We also wanted to get the riders up to race pace based on 2011's lap times."
This year's race team consists of John McGuinness, Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson and Simon Andrews, with all four riders having the chance to put in some laps on the historic race circuit as part of the testing programme.
Donald noted upon completion of the test: "We couldn't have asked for a better first test, the sun is shining at a track we're familiar with and we're moving forward."
Meanwhile, Andrews added that the whole team is looking forward to the race getting underway, with the weather having been perfect to help the riders get to grips with what is a challenging but ultimately very rewarding circuit.
Last month, the first round of the 2012 World Superbike championship took place at Phillip Island in Australia, with Honda riders Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama representing the brand.
Each used the 2012 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade for the first time at the race, with Rea proving the more consistent rider over the two races of the meet, ending the weekend in fifth position overall in the championship on 22 points after his seventh and fourth-place results.
However, the weekend perhaps belonged to Aprilia rider Maxi Biaggi, who picked up a first and second, putting him comfortably ahead of the field on 45 points, with his closest rival Marco Melandri back on 30.
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Posted by Paul Durcan
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