A🐠nnounced as a Repsol Honda Moto🍌GP rider in July last year, Pol Espargaro has had a long time to imagine what his first laps on an RC213V would be like.

But the lengthy wait also extended the debate surrounding his decision to switch from KTM 🌠a🍒nd the Spaniard admitted he felt 'super stressed' to deliver during his Honda debut at the Qatar test.

"I’m super honest and the first thing was I was super stressed," Espargaro said of his opening lap on a Repsol Honda. "I was waiting a lot of time for that moment and a lot of people were talking about tha⛎t moment, good or bad.

"It’s normal that people do not trust when things change. Sometimes you need to trust even if you don’ඣt know if it’s going to be OK or bad. The pressure of all the media or people that are not trusting me switching to this team, it’s affecting all of us when we are working or when I’m riding.

"It’s like you are forced to have a performance straight awaꦅy. The first day you need to perform. Otherwise, you have done a mistake changing teams, or the crew that have taken the decision to bring me to Repsol Honda.

"This pressure, comes a𓆉lso𓃲 when you are riding. The first laps, the pressure was high. I was riding and needing to ride to the limit and needing to perform the best in my life. So, I was just trying to understand everything as best as I could, but it was quite stressful."

Fortunately for Espargaro it all turned out well. A 17th (+1.2s) on day one being followeꩲd by an improvement of 1.2s and 12th place (+0.7s) on day two, when he was the second-best Honda rider after Stefan Bradl. The #44 is also yet to fall.

"Today I was fast and my rhythm was good, even if it’s just the second day of riding. I’ve been seven-tenths off the first and t💛hree-tenths off the top five. This is something very, very positive," he said.

So how close had Espargaro's perception o🍌f riding the Honda been to 𓆏reality?

"One thing I was hoping from seeing videos and comparing the Honda when I was behind it, was the bike needs to be ridden physically. Something that you can actual🍃ly see on TV but until you try the bike, you don’t know," he said.

"This is something I was hoping to see, the bike needed to be ridden by this kind of riding style. It was something I was worried about. Finaღlly, it works. My riding style fits.

"But otherwise, I’ve had very neutral expectations of what I’d find. I just know from seeing Marc that nothing come𝓀s easy. You need to force to get ꧙it and it’s coming."

And forcing a b👍ike is exactly how Espargaro likes to ride.

"This is the kind of bike that the more you push, the more you get," he confirmed. "The better physically you are, the faster you are at the end of the race. It’s quite a lot about pꦅhysical condition and how you push the bike to make the corners and how you push the bike to make the lap time.

"The good thing is if you put a lot of effort, you get the reward, the result you want. In the past, with other manufacturers [Tech3 Yamaha, KTM],𒁃 it was opposite. The more effort you were putting, less the lap time was coming. This made me nervous. It didn’t fit with me at first w🐼hen I needed to ride fast.

"But this bike is what I need to be fast and today h൩as been a good day for us.

"For sure I need to get adapted to this bike because everything is new: the power delivery is what I’m༺ trying to understand, along with the electronics.

"Forಞ me the most difficult is not the physical part of the bike, it’s more what you cannot see or touch, the pow𝔉er delivery. In every bike it’s different and Honda have this kind of acceleration, which is amazing.

"But even if it’s amazing, I nee🃏d to get used to it and I need to take the best of 💎these electronics. At the moment I’m not doing it. I feel like I’m overriding with the electronics because it’s so good, I’m just relying on the electronics.

"I need myself to do different things on the bi🍰ke and today I was learning quite a lot, especially on the race pace.

"This was one big step compared to yesterday. Yesterday I struggled to make 2m 5s highs and today my rhythm was in 2m 5 lows. So it shows you how much from one day to another the h♚ead and brain is working and everything is coming much easi﷽er, the fast lap time as well."

Despite a competitive lap time, Espargaro knows he has plenty more to learn about the limits of the Honda. It's also a stressful ﷽process but, while nobody wants to crash, the fact he stayed on two-wheels throughout both days shows his꧒ margin for improvement 'is high'.

"As I said before, adaptingꦜ to electronics is difficult but 🌳also changing maps when you are stressed on the bike - because now I’m riding quite stressed because I don’t know the limits," he said.

"I did the lap👍 time - today I was seven tenths from the fir💖st - but I don’t know if the bike is going to launch me if I enter 3, 4 or 5kph faster in the corners. That’s so stressful.

"At the moment𒊎 I didn’t crash🍎 which shows the margin is high."

Bradl meanwhile proved his day one𝔍 pace was no flash in the pan, again leading he timesheets on his way to fifth overall 0.270s from Fabio Quartararo.

"Well🐭 we have had another positive day on 𒅌the bike and I am pleased with what we have done," said the German, whose test rider status mean he has been in action during private outing at Jerez and the Qatar Shakedown, prior to the Official test.

"We were able to improve almost immediately, and our pace kept up with the guys at the top, it shows that both the bike and I are working well here. This i𒀰s allowing us to get a lot of work done for Honda and so far we have had three very productive days.

"I was not chasing a fasℱt lap so much and the times are very tight. Now I will enjoy a short rest before coming back for the final three days of testing here."

LCR riders Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakaga💦mi, also riding the ও2021-spec Honda, were just behind Espargaro in 13th and 14th respectively, both suffering falls.

The final pre-season test takes place in Qatar from Wednesday t🌊o ﷺFriday.