Jerez J1 tests: Vinales 0.002 ahead of Marquez and 0.08 ahead of Pedrosa

23 drivers took part in this first day of testing, including all those who participated in the Spanish Grand Prix, minus Alvaro Bautista and Karel Abraham for Team Aspar, and plus Sylvain Guintoli for Suzuki and Mika Kallio for KTM. Some will remain tomorrow like KTM with its MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 teams, as well as Suzuki.

As soon as the track opened in the morning, during his third lap, Maverick Vinales clocked 1'38.878, while during the Grand Prix his best time was 1'40.706. During the warm up on Sunday morning, Maverick ran a time of 1'39.433. His team wondered whether the problems experienced during the race might not have been caused by the high temperature. Vinales progressed in 1'38.635, 0.002 ahead of Marc Marquez. The session was interrupted at lunchtime due to wind-blown dust on the track.

At the end of the day, Maverick Vinales and Marquez retained their two fastest laps, 0.08 ahead Dani Pedrosa, and 0.3 ahead Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso. John Zarco was ninth at 0.8 and Valentino Rossi twenty-first at 1.8, the latter having tried a new Yamaha chassis, just like Maverick Vinales.

On the occasion of this first day, one of the main aims was to evaluate the new Michelin front tire with a more rigid construction, and with this in mind each rider had the same tires as during the weekend, plus two new front tires. in medium rubber and two in hard rubber. This type of tire was evaluated during the Valencia tests at the end of last season, but put aside because it caused too much chatter for some. At Sepang, most drivers preferred the softer construction. Then finally Valentino Rossi, Andrea Iannone and Honda drivers Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow wondered if the stiffer version wasn't better on certain circuits

Michelin explained that the drivers would vote (there is a lot of voting at the moment) on whether they wanted the current construction of the tire before 2017 to remain in place or to reintroduce the construction of the "Valencia 2016" after this test. They said it would be a democratic decision. If they vote for the “Valencia 2016”, it will be available at Mugello at the earliest. If there is no clear decision (i.e. 11 drivers vote one way, 12 another), the pre-"Valencia 2016" will be re-evaluated during the Monday test after the Barcelona race in June.

Crutchlow, Folger and Aleix Espargaro felt the Michelin front tire with harder construction was better than what they have used so far in 2017. Folger felt it was a big improvement in stability for the Yamahas when cornering , when releasing the brakes, and declared that all M1 drivers felt the same way. Crutchlow also felt that some riders might say they didn't like this "Valencia 2016" front tire, as they would feel it might give some riders (HRC and Yamaha) an advantage.

The Ducati carried out these tests with a classic fairing, the future replacement for the “anvil head” model currently being studied in the wind tunnel. Andrea Dovizioso Wasn't convinced by the new, stiffer construction of the Michelin before. “ For me, it's very similar, like when we used it in Valencia at the end of the season. I have no preference between the two choices.” Danilo Petrucci completely agreed with him, but moderated his remarks: “It’s true that it doesn’t make any difference here, but it might make some difference on other circuits.”

Johann zarco was working on his way of exiting corners, after observing the superiority of Jorge Lorenzo Sunday in this area, having followed him for many laps. Concerning the new Michelin, he preferred not to pass judgment in this area, citing his lack of experience.

Note the staggering distance covered in a single day by most of the pilots. The Grand Prix was run over 27 laps (119,421 km) and the hardest racers did more than three times as many, with 96 laps for Marc Marquez, 95 for Takuya Tsuda, 92 for Andrea Iannone, 86 for Jack Miller and 84 for Maverick Vinales.

Sylvain Guintoli had to do a little reconnaissance on the Suzuki before taking part in a full test day tomorrow, to check the riding position and that sort of thing. But “Guinters” had come there to have fun with a MotoGP GSX-RR, and he rode as long as there was fuel left in the tank. He had to do two or three laps, he did 37 (including the fastest in 1'41.2). Put yourself in his place...

First day ranking:

1 VIÑALES, Maverick Movistar Yamaha 1'38.635
2 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda +0.002
3 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda +0.081
4 ESPARGARO, Aleix Aprilia +0.364
5 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati +0.395
6 LORENZO, Jorge Ducati +0.489
7 CRUTCHLOW, Cal LCR Honda +0.684
8 BARBERA, Hector Reale Avintia Ducati +0.825
9 ZARCO, Johann Monster Yamaha Tech3 +0.893
10 REDDING, Scott Octo Pramac Ducati +0.901
11 MILLER, Jack EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +0.913
12 RABAT, Tito EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +0.941
13 IANNONE, Andrea Suzuki Ecstar +1.019
14 FOLGER, Jonas Monster Yamaha Tech3 +1.162
15 PETRUCCI, Danilo Octo Pramac Ducati +1.244
16 ESPARGARO, Pol Red Bull KTM +1.324
17 SMITH, Bradley Red Bull KTM +1.476
18 TSUDA, Takuya Suzuki Ecstar +1.528
18 BAZ, Loris Reale Avintia Ducati +1.742
19 KALLIO, Mika Red Bull KTM +1.747
20 ROSSI, Valentino Movistar Yamaha +1.828
21 LOWES, Sam Aprilia +1.937
23 GUINTOLI, Sylvain Suzuki Ecstar +2.625

Basis of comparison: each driver's best lap during the Grand Prix (28° air, 41° runway):

1 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'40.243

2 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'40.298

3 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda HONDA 1'40.437

4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'40.539

5 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'40.560

6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'40.630

7 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'40.706

8 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'40.726

9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'40.744

10 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'40.837

11 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'40.865

12 Jonas FOLGER GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'40.873

13 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'40.947

14 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'41.197

15 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'41.407

16 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'41.471

17 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'41.482

18 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'41.541

19 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'41.550

20 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'41.560

21 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'41.5640.004

22 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'42.018

23 Takuya TSUDA JPN Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'42.735 3

 

Photo © Yamaha