Despite Fabio Quartararo’s promising performance, the Japanese brands fell behind in the French GP. The innovations that Yamaha and Honda had evaluated during the Jerez tests were only partially mounted on the bikes at Le Mans, in the absence of very concrete results for the moment, but the two manufacturers intend to take advantage of the concessions and ride this Tuesday and Wednesday at Mugello.
For Yamaha it will be an important test, given that, apart from Jerez, Quartararo and Alex Rins have not worked outside of Grands Prix since the start of the season, due to the bad weather conditions found in the sessions organized by the brand . At Le Mans, Rins spoke of an “important test” for the Japanese manufacturer, while Quartararo expressed the hope of “reconfirming” the effectiveness of the set-up changes made during the Warm-Up.
One of the objectives will also be to re-evaluate the important changes made at Jerez on a very different track, as the long Tuscan straights have little in common with the twisty Andalusian layout. “We will be able to make comparisons on a completely different track,” underlined Quartararo, placing emphasis on the new aerodynamics, which could help correct the Yamaha’s problems in corners… even if the Frenchman is not certain that they derive from this part of the motorbike.
“It’s complicated to see because, honestly, we’ve tried everything. Since Portimao, I think I’ve made more changes than in four years: we’ve tried the bike lower, longer, shorter, different frames, swingarms… And the problem is always the same. We have more power, yes, but we have lost all the positive points we had before, so we need to recover them as soon as possible.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
Photo by: Marc Fleury
“We need to find a solution quickly because, as I said, we have changed so many things that it is difficult to say,” he added. “As for the aerodynamics, we will improve it. So we will have tests at Mugello on Tuesday and Wednesday, two days, so I think they could be very positive.”
Quartararo could also try the swingarm seen in Jerez again, which was scheduled for Le Mans but did not make it to the weekend: “In the end we weren’t able to try it because, well, it doesn’t hold… We have some small technical problems and we don’t want take risks. I’ll be able to do a few laps at Mugello, Tuesday or Wednesday, to see how it goes, but we won’t be able to use it much.”
Honda hopes to clarify
For Honda, the idea should be to explore new solutions. A very different bike has already been tested by the owners in Barcelona, used in the race by test rider Stefan Bradl in Jerez and evaluated by the LCR riders the following day during the test. Nobody was satisfied with it and therefore it should be discarded, but the brand believes it has found a more interesting path.
Luca Marini and Joan Mir will be on track for one day, hoping to finally make some progress. “We have a lot of work to do at Mugello, to focus on the new bike,” underlined Marini. “I’m sure that the new features will allow us to stay further ahead. Not much, but a little.”
The Italian will try “a good compromise between many parts” and is optimistic about Honda’s ability to progress: “We have good expectations for this test. Everything won’t change overnight, but for me there can be good progress and by moving in this direction we can make further progress for the end of the season.”
Johann Zarco
Photo de: Marc Fleury
At Honda, the starting riders have already been able to participate in several tests since the start of the season, but not yet the representatives of the LCR team. The situation will change at Mugello, where Johann Zarco will participate in Wednesday’s event. “I’ll be doing some testing this week, and it will also be my first test at Mugello, so it will be interesting,” the Cannes native said over the weekend. “Jerez was useful because every new thing that doesn’t work is still information.”
Zarco admitted he was struggling to identify the main source of Honda’s problems and this test could help clarify the situation: “I don’t want to say it because if it were that easy we wouldn’t have this problem. There’s a combination of things that mean Honda can’t get out of it.”
In any case, Zarco will wait until the last moment to know what his test program will be: “My job as a rider is to concentrate, give my all on the bike and always be able to understand if ‘OK, the bike is asking this, how can I answer?’ The program will be communicated to me perhaps on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.”
With Fabien Gaillard
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