Like their little playmates, the Movistar Yamaha riders took part yesterday in this unique official MotoGP test day on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
On the program, Michelin tires with a new carcass (1 front, 3 rear) but above all one new chassis and two swing arms.
Jorge Lorenzo took to the track at 11 a.m. and, after spending the rest of the morning familiarizing himself with the new elements, he set a time of 1'44.202 on worn tires on his 26th lap (compared to 1' 44.056 in qualifying), thus placing himself at that moment in provisional first place in the ranking. His time remained unbeaten until the very end of the session, at a time when the Yamaha rider had already stopped riding.
His teammate, Valentino Rossi, only entered the ball at 15 p.m., after a well-deserved rest following his victory the day before. He constantly improved his best time during his first hour before focusing on testing the new Michelin tires and his new chassis. His time of 1'45.454 on the 23rd lap (compared to 1'44.324 in qualifying) therefore obviously does not reflect the search for maximum performance.
Knowing that they would return to the track the next day, alone this time, the Movistar Yamaha riders did not force themselves today, despite a track that was undoubtedly faster than the day before thanks to the rubber laid down by the MotoGP during the Grand Prix. Price.
But already, unlike at Honda, the new chassis seems to be unanimous and will be used at least by Jorge Lorenzo at Assen.
We can bet that tomorrow (first day of unofficial testing used by Yamaha out of five possible) the times will be faster… but not disclosed to the competition!
Valentino Rossi: “It was a good test. We focused on the tires and we found something good, so the rear tires are working better than yesterday. But now we have a bigger task since we have to try the new things that Yamaha has brought here, which will be very interesting for the rest of the season. I tried the new chassis and my first impression was good, and we will continue tomorrow with the rest. »
Jorge Lorenzo: “It was a positive test. After my fall yesterday I felt some pain, especially in my legs, but a few pills helped me feel better so I was able to have a pretty good day. I tried a lot of things, in particular some new Michelin rear tires, some of which have a quite positive effect on acceleration, as well as a new factory chassis, which also gave us some positive aspects and which we will try again tomorrow. »
