[Photos] Brno, MotoGP Test: Lorenzo is a hit, Rossi is jubilant, Honda satisfied, Suzuki too, and Ducati absent

This Monday in Brno, the teams Repsol Honda, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, Suzuki Ecstar, LCR Honda, Monster Yamaha Tech3, Octo Pramac Yackhich and Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS were present for a MotoGP test. All the Ducatis with the exception of the Octo Pramac team, as well as the Aprilias were not there, preferring later private tests.

Winner the day before and no doubt in a hurry to find his family, Cal Crutchlow was the first to take a track which quickly proved impassable due to diesel spilled by a service vehicle at turn 11 after the Grand Prix.

A good two hours of interruption later, at the beginning of the afternoon, everyone was able to start working, with Crutchlow once again the first on the track.

At Yamaha, whose two drivers came out on top in these tests, we had a new chassis and a new swinging arm.
Valentino Rossi is seduced and just ask to use them in the race as quickly as possible: “Yes, I tried them and I really liked them. I used them all day and always had a good pace, and I was also quite fast in the timed lap. The bike is more stable and I manage to push harder when braking and entering corners. Now I'll have to talk with the technicians to find out when I can use them, even in races.
We also had two new Michelin tires before, but unfortunately they are for next year. These tires are very good, I like them and I have improved my time and also my feeling. »

Jorge Lorenzo did not have the opportunity to try these new products, which did not prevent him from being the fastest, in 1'55.394, to compare with his best time during the weekend; 1'54.791 on a much cleaner track.
We can only speculate as to the reasons why he did not ride with these new products, but his move “to the enemy” at the end of the season is undoubtedly not unrelated.
Lin Jarvis had also announced it when the Majorcan rider signed with Ducati: “It is obvious that he will not be able to try the 2017 prototype. He will of course receive the 2016 developments.”
However, the Mallorcan pilot has another explanation: “Valentino and I are going in two different directions in this area, and this evolution is in his direction. That's why it wouldn't make sense for Yamaha to make me try it too. I don't think me leaving the team after this season had any effect; in theory, this setting must be worse for me.”

Still at Yamaha but this time at Tech3, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro respectively achieved the sixth and eighth times of the day; enough to find their feet after the mishaps that occurred this weekend.

Espargaro Pol: “We made good progress in this test and the work we have done leaves me feeling positive about my chances in the races to come. At the same time, it wasn't ideal because we didn't have too many tires to use, the track surface was dirty and it was difficult to find the rhythm this morning. Being able to use only these few tires meant that we struggled a bit to do everything we wanted to try. However, we tested some electronic settings, which I think will increase our performance and which we will therefore use in some upcoming GPs. In addition, we also really improved the way the bike behaves when braking, which is very important because that's what we struggled a lot with this weekend just like in Austria, and it was therefore the main positive point of the test. Because of the knowledge we gained, I am confident and looking forward to the next race. »

Et still at Tech3, Alex Lowes had the opportunity to try Pol Espargaro's second M1 as a reward for his participation in the victory at the Suzuka 8 Hours with the latter and Katsuyuki Nakasuga. A rather encouraging start but which, after 15 laps, unfortunately ended on the ground, without damage to the driver.

alex lowes : “Obviously, this was one of the best days of my life! Ever since you were a kid you've dreamed of an opportunity to ride a MotoGP, and this was fantastic. Obviously I didn't do too many laps, but the feeling on the bike was incredible. The power of the bike and the way it turns was everything I expected and more than that, so it was an incredible experience.
I have to say a huge thank you to Yamaha for giving me this opportunity, it was a dream for me. A big thank you also to the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team for also giving me the opportunity and I'm really sorry for the crash, but honestly I really loved the experience and it's a day I will remember for the rest of my life.
The brakes and tires are very different from a WorldSBK bike, but the biggest difference is the power.
The fall happened during my last two laps, almost at the end of the day and obviously the reason was because I tried to attack a little too much without understanding everything. I braked a little more and the rear lifted a little and I went a little wide and, the track being a little dirty, I lost the front. It was only a small fall but I feel really sorry. »

At Honda, we tackled the recurring problem of lack of acceleration. It does not come from an engine lacking horsepower, but, on the contrary, from a motorcycle which tends to quickly rear up when, in fact, it has adopted a counter-rotating engine supposed to improve this phenomenon.

Marc Márquez : “At the start of the day the track was very dirty, but as soon as all the drivers came out it cleaned up and had more grip. We tried a lot of things, including a few new front tires. We focused our test work on understanding why the front wheel of our bike lifts when exiting curves and we obtained some positive results and others that were less so, as always in these cases. We figured out a lot about tuning, to try to absorb a little wheelie and improve acceleration. We also tested a new swingarm, which may be useful on some circuits and we will have it prepared in case of necessity, but for now we will continue with the one we have used until now. Overall I think this training went well and we are already looking forward to being at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. »

Marc Marquez continued to ride with his new air intake and big wings, Dani Pedrosa without anything.

Dani Pedrosa: “We went out late today because the track conditions were not good and we wouldn't have understood whether the work we did was good or not. Finally we were able to start and we focused our work on trying to clarify the direction we want to take for the settings in the races to come. Basically, we tried to put our ideas together and come up with some new ones in order to regain some confidence. We also tried a new swingarm and now we will analyze everything to build on what we have understood. We didn't test the new Michelin tires before because our priorities were different at the time, but we will definitely try them in the next test. »

At LCR, Cal Crutchlow was almost the most diligent, with 63 laps, only being surpassed in this area by Tito Rabat (83).

Nevertheless, the British driver was satisfied with his day, divided between testing the new Michelin tires and new parts for his Honda: “This day of testing was generally positive for us and we are relatively satisfied with the times we were able to achieve. We tried two different types of rubber at the front for Michelin and a few new elements for Honda. We had to work quite late until the track closed because the driving conditions were not the most optimal in the morning but thanks to the team we were able to carry out the program that we had set out to complete. fixed by working hard throughout this day. We finally managed to put our finger on a few details that should benefit us in Great Britain in two weeks. »

At Suzuki, Aleix Espargaro was absent because of an appointment in Spain for his broken finger.
Maverick Vinales was therefore on call despite nothing new to try. He simply refined the settings of his GSX-RR while reviewing all the swingarms made available to him by the team: “Unfortunately, the track conditions did not allow us to test in the morning, so we had to wait until the afternoon to get the proper performance. In the end, we were only able to test a few new options in the settings and electronics, we are still working on finding traction and we found some new information that will be useful for Silverstone and for the rest of the season. The times were systematically positive, making our day positive. After two races in a row, it's hard to stay for a test, but it was worth watching. It's a shame because of the conditions, we could have worked a little more and tried a few more things, but in the end the work we did will be useful. »

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