Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa tested Honda’s 2016 prototype machine for the first time at Italy’s Misano circuit.

The Japanese manufacturer is undergoing a private test at the venue which has seen the second day devoted to the development of its 2016 RC213V machine.

Both Marquez and Pedrosa, who continued development work on the 2015 bike on Wednesday, reported strong feedback from the latest iteration of Honda’s MotoGP challenger.

Reigning world champion Marquez completed 81 laps setting a best time of 1:32.00s, while Pedrosa ended 0.6s adrift after logging 71 laps.

“I’m happy with these past two days, we have done a great job on the setup and now I feel more comfortable,” said Marquez.

“Especially this morning when the temperature was a little bit lower we were able to find something that has improved my feeling and now we will have to see if this will work also in the coming circuits.

“I also tried the 2016 prototype finding something good, but we will test it again tomorrow with next year’s tyres to give the HRC engineers more data to work with.

“In the afternoon the track temperature was really too hot, but I am happy with the pace I was able to keep even in these circumstances.”

The team will spend Friday testing new Michelin tyres as the French manufacturer prepares to become the sole tyre supplier to the championship next year.

Ducati joined Honda at the test with riders Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone and test pilot Michele Pirro.

Dovizioso clocked up 132 laps during the two days as the team continued to work on fine tuning its electronics and bike setup.

Team-mate Iannone was forced to end his test early after suffering pain in his left shoulder.

MotoGP is enjoying its mid-season break before heading to Indianapolis for Round 10 from August 9.