[Technical] Cautious, Yamaha is releasing an intermediate version of its large-sided fairing at Mugello…

Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales mainly rode Friday at Mugello with an aerodynamic variant of the fairing with integrated fins on their Yamaha YZR-M1.

They therefore used the larger, more rounded sides seen mainly during the Sepang tests but, this time, without the 2 internal fins on each side.

In this version, the motorcycles therefore have double sides, empty inside. We can assume that the support generated on the front axle is halfway between that provided by the usual fairing and that provided by the fairing equipped with its internal fins.

We remember that this is where the Yamaha engines broke last year. As Valentino Rossi himself explained, Yamaha engineers came to the conclusion that the ailerons had generated an excessive load on the front of the M1s at the end of the long Mugello straight, which tended to cause revs- engine speeds, see excessive slippage of the rear tire at high revs, a situation which, associated with a failure of the maximum rev limiter, had caused the engine failures.

There is no question of repeating the experience this year, and we are therefore moving forward with caution at Yamaha…

Photo credit : Natacha Alfageme