With the return of the pneumatic-valve engine delayed, Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden worked on tyres and set-up during Monday's post-race test at Estoril.
In a further sign that the spring-valve engine is more than capable of holding its own, Pedrosa was fastest of all on qualifying tyres with Hayden leading the way on race rubber.
Pedrosa has finished an impressive third, first and second in the three opening rounds of the season - results matched (in a different order) by Sunday's winner Jorge Lorenzo, putting the pair of Spanish rivals on top of the world championship standings.
However, Lorenzo has also taken all three pole positions, a run Pedrosa will be aiming to end next time out at Shanghai.
"It's been another positive day of testing. We focused mostly on testing tyres with Michelin, both race tyres and qualifying tyres, because I needed to improve my performance on qualifiers," said Dani. "The day's work has helped us prepare for the Chinese GP and further improve our base setup. We also did some work on the chassis and suspension to improve front-end feeling during hard braking, because this aspect of performance is particularly important at Shanghai, and we also worked on the electronics."
With extra horsepower, in the form of the '08 pneumatic-valve engine, unlikely to appear in time for the Chinese Grand Prix - which features the longest straight on the MotoGP calendar - the Repsol riders might well need to rely on their braking skills to help stay on terms with the Ducatis and factory Yamahas.
Casey Stoner won last year's Chinese event with his powerful Desmosedici and, during the Portuguese Grand Prix, the GP8s were still the fastest machines in a straight line - despite their handling difficulties.
Alice's Toni Elias led the way with 323.2km/h (FP3), with Stoner second on 320.3km/h (FP3). Next best was the pneumatic-powered Yamaha of Valentino Rossi, which reached 318.5km/h in the race, followed by Stoner's team-mate Marco Melandri and Rossi's team-mate Lorenzo (both 318.1km/h during FP3).
Pedrosa was ranked sixth fastest during the weekend, courtesy of a 317.6km/h set in FP3. The heavier Hayden was only eleventh out of the18 riders with a peak speed of 314.4km/h (FP2). As well as four Ducatis and three Yamahas, both Kawasakis were also quicker than the American in a straight line.
Hayden, who fell from fourth place during the grand prix, will thus be looking to make up for lost ground during Shanghai's heavy braking zones.
"Everything went pretty smooth today," said Nicky on Monday evening. "We worked mainly on improving the race setup to get the bike more stable on the brakes, because there's a lot of hard braking at Shanghai. We improved our race pace here, I think we were fastest on race tyres today, so we're happy about that.
"In the afternoon we did some tyre testing with Michelin and that went pretty well. I'm feeling confident, the bike is working well and my team have done a great job here, doing a day-and-night shift to give me a good bike after I bent my race bike yesterday, so a big thank you to them. I'm looking forward to China and getting a positive result."
The Chinese Grand Prix takes place from May 2-4.
