On Monday, most of the MotoGP teams remained at the Jerez-Angel Nieto circuit for a single IRTA test session.
This therefore does not count in the 5 days allocated for private tests but we noted the absence of the official Ducati, Suzuki and Aprilia.
Among the teams present, we noted with pleasure the presence of Dani Pedrosa despite his gliding flight yesterday and Sunday while Hafiz Syahrin was content to watch his little comrades from the side of the track following his cycling injuries, and that Xavi Cardelus made his arrival as an official test driver for the Reale Avintia team.
At the start of the session, Marc Márquez quickly moved to the top of the standings with a time of 1'38.232, 3 tenths slower than his best lap in qualifying, before having to bow to a John Zarco who, at midday, completed his 28th lap in 1'37.937, a few hundredths better than his time in Q2.
The boiling Cal Crutchlow and the valiant Maverick Vinales came between the 2 men, but, finally in the afternoon, many were able to improve their times, starting with Dani Pedrosa who set the 3rd time, 0,25 seconds behind Johann Zarco who was also improving.
On the technical side, the official Hondas tested
several aerodynamic developments while Cal Crutchlow worked on the suspensions, brakes and electronics (but still not the carbon swingarm). At the house of KTM, Pol Espargaro tested the 2019 engine, which is suspected of running backwards, in addition to a new chassis part.
For the other teams, we made do with what we generically call the “base set-up”, that is to say the settings, whether mechanical or electronic.
Michelin had brought a soft rear tire with a new compound which should be offered at Mugello.
The KTM are running again at Jerez this Tuesday, in private testing this time, while the Honda Repsol are expected at Mugello on Thursday.
Among the others, we packed up with the satisfaction of a duty accomplished…
Johann zarco, 1st in 1'37.730, 63 laps: “Today's test was good for me and I'm quite happy to have been so fast. The whole weekend in Jerez I felt good, so the goal was to keep trying things with the settings and keep having fun riding the bike. I think I understood a lot during the race. Anyway, the goal was to find more grip and use the bike well and, at the moment, it's going pretty well. I didn't try any new pieces, because I didn't want to complicate things, so we worked and tried personal things to improve. I did 1'37.7 in the afternoon, which means the new Michelin tire was working well. I never had the same problems as during qualifying, so I'm very happy, because I'm faster than on Saturday. It bodes well for preparing for the French Grand Prix.”
Cal Crutchlow, 2nd in 1'37.947, 67 laps: "Today was a positive day, as you can see by the number of times we improved our speed over the weekend, but that doesn't make the day of yesterday easier to accept. But we worked again in a positive way and I felt good with the bike. We still need to find grip at the rear compared to our competitors, because we end up overheating the front tire because there isn't enough grip at the rear. That's the situation, but we're happy with the way the team worked and Honda did a good job of assessing our situation and trying to help us a little bit. We will go to the next race at Le Mans in a positive state of mind.”
Dani Pedrosa, 3rd in 1'37.980, 75 laps: “I am very satisfied with the work we did on the bike today. This morning I felt quite sore and stiff on the right side, but lap after lap I improved my sensations and I am very happy to have been able to finish this day of testing. We worked on electronics and aerodynamics and everything else, and during the day we improved our feel, confidence and pace, finding many positives while working on the bike and with the new parts that we tested. The team did a very good job.”
Maverick Vinales, 4th in 1'38.139: “The Monday tests are always positive for us, but we have to be strong on Sunday. We haven't solved anything. We have to see in the coming days if we can still improve. Today I enjoyed the bike again, but we still have work to do. I don't think we solved many things today, and I don't know if we took a few steps forward, our level is still the same. We have no traction. What do I bring home? No more miles on the bike. I finally found a good rhythm, nothing special but a good constant rhythm all the same. I think the track was much better today, more grippy, especially in the morning. In the next test at Mugello we will try to get more answers.”
Marc Marquez, 5th in 1'38.232, 62 laps: “It was a good day of testing. We didn't do many laps, but we completed the program we had planned, mainly working on the aerodynamic package. This is an area where everyone is trying to find a little extra and we are focusing more on that. We tried 3 or 4 new fairings. We found some positives, but we need further confirmation on a different circuit because we will only have the chance to homologate one more fairing this season. Overall, I had a good feeling on the bike, as I had yesterday.”
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Valentino Rossi, 10th in 1'38.673, 69 laps: “We had a lot to do and it was a good test. We tried different solutions, some were better, some less, but it was important and we improved a little. In my opinion, we will have something more important to try in the next test. The new Michelin tires are very good, they have improved a lot, they have given a lot more grip and you can go faster, so they give a good feeling. Honestly, I talked a lot and I said some pretty harsh things, but if you were there, I was calm, I wasn't angry because sincerely, I'm explaining to you a situation that I've already known for several years. month. I like working with Yamaha, I trust Yamaha, it's definitely a difficult moment, and I hope that by telling them these words it will generate more motivation. Today was not the day to make a difference, today we tried something else, the next few months will be very important. I'm in a bigger hurry than Yamaha, because Yamaha might be racing for another 100 years, and I know I don't have much time left, so I'm trying to shorten the time.”
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Xavier Simeon, 16th in 1'39.720, 68 laps: “We don't have any new parts to test on these bikes, so we focused on trying new things to improve my sensations. We changed my position on the bike, and we saw positive things. I felt much better than during the race weekend. I have also worked a lot to change my riding style, but I haven't improved as much as I would like. But we have to be patient because it's a long process and each time I get a little better. I don’t want to rush, but it’s clear that I would like to be much faster.”
MotoGP Jerez Test: Chronos
| 1 | ZARCO, Johann | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:37.730 | 53 / 63 | ||||
| 2 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1:37.947 | 0.217 | 0.217 | 57 / 67 | ||
| 3 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 1:37.980 | 0.250 | 0.033 | 68 / 75 | ||
| 4 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Yamaha Motor Racing | 1:38.139 | 0.409 | 0.159 | 19 / 64 | ||
| 5 | MARCHEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:38.232 | 0.502 | 0.093 | 21 / 62 | ||
| 6 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:38.288 | 0.558 | 0.056 | 65 / 66 | ||
| 7 | RABAT, Tito | Royal Avintia Racing | 1:38.304 | 0.574 | 0.016 | 26 / 88 | ||
| 8 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1:38.444 | 0.714 | 0.140 | 70 / 74 | ||
| 9 | MILLER, Jack | Alma Pramac Racing | 1:38.586 | 0.856 | 0.142 | 37 / 38 | ||
| 10 | Rossi, Valentine | Yamaha Motor Racing | 1:38.673 | 0.943 | 0.087 | 68 / 69 | ||
| 11 | SMITH, Bradley | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:38.674 | 0.944 | 0.001 | 59 / 66 | ||
| 12 | ESPARGARÓ, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:38.684 | 0.954 | 0.010 | 20 / 63 | ||
| 13 | BAUTISTA, Alvaro | Angel Nieto Team | 1:39.135 | 1.405 | 0.451 | 60 / 62 | ||
| 14 | KALLIO, Mika | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:39.232 | 1.502 | 0.097 | 6 / 32 | ||
| 15 | LUTHI, Thomas | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:39.643 | 1.913 | 0.411 | 22 / 44 | ||
| 16 | SIMEON, Xavier | Royal Avintia Racing | 1:39.720 | 1.990 | 0.077 | 13 / 68 | ||
| 17 | CARDELUS, Xavi | Royal Avintia Racing | 1:42.040 |
