Mandalika’s debut in MotoGP was not exactly the best, despite the high expectations. The Indonesian track, which welcomes the premier class for the last 2022 pre-season test session, was dirty and full of stones, making it impossible for the drivers to turn. After a first green light, the working day was interrupted to try to understand how to continue, if it was better to stay still or continue to turn in order to clean the track, in some way.
At the end of the meeting it was decided to get back on track, amid the controversy and discontent of several drivers. On the other hand, the one who has found himself in agreement with the decision taken is Andrea Dovizioso. The Forlì, a man of great experience, believes that the final choice was the most appropriate because the passage of the bikes was the fastest way to clean the track, on which a thin line was created that allowed the riders to start to familiarize yourself with the Mandalika circuit.
Dovizioso promotes the layout, but rejects the conditions
At the end of the first day of testing in Mandalika, the track is … postponed. Dovizioso, at the end of the 57 laps completed, promotes the layout, which he considers fun and believes that in some ways it fits the Yamaha. However, he can not help but reject the conditions in which the track has presented itself: “The layout is fun, perhaps too small and strange, but fun. The situation was not ideal, there was too much dust and the conditions were not acceptable. We had to turn because in the end it was the right decision, we created a small line where you could push and understand the trajectories of the track. Overall, it was a fair decision to shoot. At first no one wanted to drive, but in the end the choice to send us to the track was correct. The real problem is that the asphalt loses some stones, so when you are behind a rider you feel pain because you get stones from the bikes in front ”.
The Yamaha RNF rider explains in detail what led him to agree with the decision to get everyone out on the track, considering that the alternative was to wait in the pits for the track to be cleaned, an operation that would have taken too many hours. In addition, in the final minutes the rain also began to peep out, which complicated the situation a bit: “I didn’t go in with the rain, but you all saw how dirty the bikes were and that was a sign of the track conditions. I took a short ride before the meeting to figure out what to do and the track was undriveable. There was really a lot of dirt everywhere, a layer on top of the whole track. But in the end there were two options: either to stay still and have the track cleaned, but it would have taken many hours, or to ride the bike ”.
And for the race? The ideas are still not clear …
The biggest concern is not so much about the tests, but the race. In fact, Indonesia will host the Grand Prix in about a month and the hope is to find a different situation from the one they are currently facing. Dovizioso doesn’t know what to expect in view of the race, taking into consideration what we saw today: “Those who had seen the track didn’t want to run, because it was really dangerous if you wanted to push and the conditions weren’t there. But they had already tried to clean two corners in two hours and I, having done out-in, in those two corners I saw that there was no big difference with the others. So it was pretty easy to decide, the only way was to try and shoot and it was the right choice. Because the track has improved a lot, with twenty bikes on the track a line was created, albeit very narrow, but the track had become almost normal. Then learn the lines, make the turns at the right speed. Let’s see if from one day to the next you take a step forward or if you go back a little and then improve during the day ”.
“First we have to have a clean situation”, he continues “, because testing is one thing, but you can’t just race with a small clean line. I have a feeling they didn’t have the proper means to clean it, but that’s just my thought. Stones are a problem and I don’t know what can be done with them, maybe you can clean more and there may be fewer stones, but I don’t know how it can be solved. For the race, the only thing we can ask is that the track be cleaned as much as possible, there is nothing else we can do. If we look at the Superbike times, in the clean line the grip was almost normal. I don’t have the experience on this track, so I can definitely say it will improve ”.
Andrea Dovizioso, RNF MotoGP Racing
Photo by: MotoGP
The adaptation to the M1 continues growing
Beyond the doubts about the track conditions, Dovizioso was able to complete several laps on the M1, to which he seems to be adapting better. The Forlì ended the first day in ninth position, just over seven tenths of a second behind the leader Pol Espargaro, and is satisfied with the progress: “I’m improving the way Yamaha is riding and I’m very happy with it. Right from the start, after the work done in the Sepang tests, I was able to approach the braking and lines better than in Malaysia. We also tried a different setup and this helped me braking, so I felt very good on this aspect and this is important for me and for my driving style. Today I felt better than other tracks and other times, I was able to interpret the track fairly quickly, for the conditions that were there today. So I’m quite happy with how we started, the feeling with the bike has improved. Overall, it wasn’t a bad day ”.
However, Dovi he doesn’t consider the new track a factor that could help them compared to their rivals: “Are we all starting from scratch? It depends on many factors, on the characteristics of the track, on the conditions you find. As for me, there is a mix of various things: it takes time to adjust to what the bike requires, for me it is quite anomalous. Seeing what we did in Sepang, we tried to do more right things in driving, I was able to improve without having negative sides, and this is very positive. In some respects this track is good for Yamaha, because in my opinion it works well in braking and insertion. with the grip it is a bit complicated because you always stay with the corner. Apart from the finish straight, it feels a lot, and I struggle a little on this aspect. Let’s see tomorrow how the grip will change also to understand how we are compared to our rivals “.
Andrea Dovizioso, RNF MotoGP Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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