The new M1
After just one day’s break from the last weekend of the world championship, the MotoGP teams and riders returned to the track at Valencia for the post-season testingwith a single appointment held yesterday in anticipation of getting back to work in 2024. Numerous debuts are expected, including that of Alex Rins in Yamaha, with the Spaniard taking over from Franco Morbidelli, who in turn moved to Pramac. Riding the new M1the number 42 finished 19th fastest, finishing behind his new teammate Fabio Quartararojust outside the top-10 with the twelfth position.
The opportunity for concessions
Seven tenths behind the top, the Frenchman tested the new fairing and the aerodynamic innovations, expressing a good opinion on the latter. Overall, however, ‘El Diablo’ has not shown the hoped-for progress, but will seize the opportunity concessions reserved for Japanese manufacturers (Yamaha and Honda) with the addition of extra private tests to improve the performance of the bike: “I didn’t have high expectations – he admitted to the microphones of Corriere dello Sport – there have been improvements, but we are still far from where we were before. The aerodynamics are very good, but to fully exploit them you need a lot more power. Taking extra tests will be a pleasuresince the goal is to be competitive, e at the moment we are still too far away“.
Our Day 1️⃣ with @Rins42 🤜🤛
The butterflies have settled after the Valencia Test 🦋 He looks like a great match for our M1 🫶#MonsterYamaha | #MotoGP | #ValenciaTest pic.twitter.com/M14anqJUIb
— Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP (@YamahaMotoGP) November 28, 2023
The first experience
Quartararo, not yet in top physical condition after the complex weekend in Valencia, took to the track still with some antibiotics, unlike Rins. Coming from the LCR Honda team, the Iberian spent the entire day with the aim of becoming familiar with the new bike, focusing more on data collection than on the time attack: “It was my first day with the Yamaha team and I’m very happy because it was a really positive day – has explained – we tested many things, some of them concerning the set-up. We only worked onaerodynamics. I’m very happy because I adapted well to the bike straight away. In the last hours, from midday to the end of the session, we tested the fairings, which took a step forward compared to the one I used in the morning, which was the race fairing.”
#Quartararo #blesses #concessions #pleasure #extra #tests