At the bottom of the abyss in Aragon, the official Yamahas played the leading roles in a Thai Grand Prix which took place just two weeks after the debacle. In the meantime, no new developments or developments have been declared or observed. A recovery as sudden as it is surprising which surprised more than one. And not just among the competition. The pilots themselves can't believe it. So that Valentino Rossi does not catch fire...
The series without a victory continues and we are now at 24 races without success. But at least the podium is regained, thanks to Vinales while Rossi finished just behind after having led the debates for a while. And it was about time because the last time Yamaha had gone five consecutive races without participating in the flag ceremony was in 2003…
The improvement is therefore noted, but will it last? A question that the Doctor also asks himself, who thus looks back on his performance… “ I tried to drive without aggression while keeping a little margin, but I suffered a lot. It was difficult to keep in touch with all four fighting for the podium, but, at least it was a decent race. It was the best race of the second half of the season for Yamaha. In the next races we will see if the good result is due to the track or if we were really able to improve the bike. The other four races of the season are very important because we have to be competitive on other tracks as well. The Ducati, for example, is strong everywhere. In Buriram, we were in the leading group throughout the race, but towards the end we still had a little problem with the tires. I don't know if we have the potential to win. The next race will be at Motegi and it's generally a good track for us. We hope it will be dry because last year in the rain it was a nightmare. Then comes Phillip Island and it's one of the best times of the year. An improvement is there, it's true, but we will see in Japan if it was just the track or also the bike. I would have liked to be on the podium, but Maverick was stronger than me today. I felt good on the bike and had enough strength to fight. So it wasn't a physical problem. Maybe Maverick spared his tires better than me during the race. Maybe that's why he was stronger than me "
Vale specifies: “ Currently, everyone is afraid of not finishing because of the tires. It almost looks like a cycle race. Everyone is waiting for someone to escape so they can chase them. It's not easy to keep concentration, I struggled a lot in the last laps and I kept slipping, it was a difficult final. Maverick was better than me. It's a downside to being a bit bigger and heavier, but it had a different setting that allowed it to save tires on the end. It's a shame, I would have liked to get on the podium. Yamaha's problems? We will only be able to say that we will have solved them all when we are again regular candidates for victory"
Thai Grand Prix, Buriram, MotoGP J.3: classification.
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 39'55.722 |
| 2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | + 0.115 |
| 3 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | + 0.270 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | + 1.564 |
| 5 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | + 2.747 |
| 6 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | + 3.023 |
| 7 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | + 6.520 |
| 8 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | + 6.691 |
| 9 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | + 9.944 |
| 10 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | + 11.077 |
| 11 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | + 15.488 |
| 12 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | + 17.691 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | + 21.413 |
| 14 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | + 22.802 |
| 15 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | + 23.628 |
| 16 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | + 23.804 |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | + 32.507 |
| 18 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | + 37.216 |
| 19 | 81 | Jordi TORRES | Ducati | + 39.204 |
| 20 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | + 39.421 |
| 21 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | + 53.388 |
| 22 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 2 lapses |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 8 lapses |
