Honda is working hard to improve their bike, and one of their latest upgrades was spotted on the RC213V during testing in Buriram, Thailand.

Johann Zarco, Honda’s top rider in the 2024 season, tested a new rear section on his bike. This upgrade, first seen in Sepang, has now evolved with added wings and a rear spoiler. A closer look at the bike in Buriram revealed two vertical flaps designed to optimize airflow, making the rear wing more effective.

A key change from the Sepang test is the removal of the flap tower. Engineers made this adjustment to improve the bike’s aerodynamics, increasing downforce while reducing drag.

Honda is trying to catch up with Ducati, which had a 7 km/h top speed advantage in Sepang. While improving engine power remains a priority, Honda is also exploring aerodynamic improvements to boost their performance. One notable change is how the lateral bulkheads of the rear wings are now angled inward, directing airflow toward the center of the bike for better efficiency.

Honda isn’t relying on just one rider to test these changes. The team has divided development among its four bikes to gather as much data as possible before the season kicks off in two weeks.

HRC Rider Luca Marini finished sixth fastest, with Zarco close behind in seventh. Zarco was happy with the bike’s performance on new tyres but admitted that Honda still has work to do to compete with the top teams.

“I’m really satisfied with the last half an hour when I put on a new tyre – everything worked well,” Zarco said. “I know I can be fast, so it’s great to confirm that. But maintaining pace is still a challenge. The rear tyre behaves differently here compared to Malaysia, and the bike’s performance changes lap by lap. This makes development tough because we’re trying many things, but we haven’t yet made a breakthrough big enough to say, ‘Now we’re ready to fight.’

“I do think we’ve made progress. Even Marini was quite fast today, and our lap times are more competitive than last year. That’s a step forward. But we always want more, and we’ll have to see how things play out over a full race distance.”

Honda fans will be eager to see whether these changes help the team close the gap when the MotoGP season begins. For now, the improvement looks promising.