Wasting time is not an option at Yamaha, where new tests last week saw the introduction of a new engine, among other innovations. This has already been put to the test in Assen, where this weekend both Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins mounted it on their M1s to verify its effectiveness also on a track other than Valencia (where the tests were carried out) and in conditions of race weekends.
If the Frenchman seemed happy on Thursday at the Dutch Grand Prix, he moderated his enthusiasm at the end of free practice on Friday, where the new engine showed less efficiency on a particular layout like that of Assen. The shape of the track is not favoring the direction taken by Yamaha and the new engine is also affected.
“The new engine helps, but not here, where it only helps in some corners,” he explains. The Devil. “You can feel more braking performance when stopping the bike. But in the second and last sector you must not stop, you must turn and have agility in the bike, just as in the last sector. You lose a lot at that point, but if you look at the first sector I’m quite fast. That’s more where we improved the bike, when you have to stop more, you can maintain a little more speed but unfortunately, in the really fast corners, we’re still as bad as before.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
All things considered, however, the Frenchman believes that the improvements outweigh the negatives and, in agreement with his teammate, he decided to adopt this new engine: “We have more turning, not more handling, but just a little bit more braking performance in the slow corners. It helps us a bit in turning, but here we know it’s a very fast track and that doesn’t help much. In the slow corners the bike turns better, so it doesn’t make sense to use the previous version. From Qatar to Mugello we used the same engine, but we had to change it because we think the new one is better”.
Only 41 thousandths separate Quartararo from direct Q2, a result that somehow makes him smile. However, the Nice native believes that the true potential of the new engine will be seen much better on other tracks, such as Austria and Misano. Both Assen and the Sachsenring, where the race will take place next week, will be a difficult test: “I hope to get more at Silverstone. The Sachsenring will also not be the best track for our bike, but I think the Red Bull Ring and Misano are tracks where you can see small improvements with this engine.”
![Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing](https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6AE1plD6/s1000/alex-rins-yamaha-factory-racin.jpg)
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Rins on the same line as Quartararo
There have been steps forward and this is confirmed by Alex Rins, who tested the new engine just like his teammate. The Spaniard offers the same feedback as the 2021 world champion, a sign that the improvement is evident and the direction taken is the right one: “We have gained a bit of turning, but we are still a bit far away from our rivals. This morning we had some problems with the electronics, I didn’t do many laps because, as I said, the traction control wasn’t working correctly.”
However, an electronics issue affected Rins’ Friday, who finished the first day of the Dutch Grand Prix in 14th position and will also go through Q1: “In the afternoon we changed the electronics a bit and took a different approach with the setup, so we made a step forward compared to the morning. But it’s still not enough to be closer. At the moment we are out of Q2, so tomorrow we will have to work a bit more”.
#MotoGP #Quartararo #engine #helps #Assen
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