As a consequence of their poor results last year, both Honda and Yamaha - the only two Japanese brands in the championship - will benefit from a series of advantages agreed by the other manufacturers and the various bodies that organise and legislate the championship.
Apart from the option to continue to develop the engine throughout the season while the other manufacturers' development is frozen, another point in favour of Yamaha and Honda will be the possibility to carry out as many private test days as they wish with their race riders.
Honda has decided to put its main focus on testing and Autosport has learned it has already planned a private test calendar which could consist of up to 22 outings.
It should be noted that this is only an initial plan that will most likely not be fully carried out, as Yamaha and Honda's support will be reviewed during the summer break and recalculated according to the results achieved up to that point.
Both Joan Mir and Luca Marini, the two riders who share the garage of the works HRC team, could take part in all these tests, although the start of the championship - from the weekend of 10 March - will make their participation much more complicated, especially considering this season will include 22 events, with sprint races every GP weekend.
Source: Autosport