Today the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team have wrapped up the second day of testing at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. Riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales spent the available time fine-tuning their bikes’ settings and finished in 4th and 14th place respectively in the combined timesheets.
Similar to yesterday, Viñales left pit lane early for his first run, determined to improve on the time he set yesterday aboard his YZR-M1, and to collect useful data in preparation for the forthcoming season.
The young Spaniard worked hard all day, riding a total of 90 laps, as he tweaked the set-up and tested two different Michelin tyre specifications. He had a bit of a breakthrough in the final half hour of the session and set a 1’30.274s on lap 84. His efforts put him in fourth place in both today’s and the combined rankings, 0.305s from the top.
Rossi breached into the top-10 quickly after heading out on track this morning. He set his fastest lap of the day with a 1’30.888s on lap 22, before he returned to the order of the day: establishing a good balance for his bike.
Like his teammate, the Doctor put in a serious effort, riding 65 laps in total, to compare different tyre specifications as well as some electronics and setting amendments. Though he was unable to find a set-up that worked well enough to better the time he set earlier, he still ended in 14th place in the Day 2 rankings, 0.919s from first.
Maverick Viñales
Position: 4th – Time: 1’30.274 – Laps: 90
“It took us a bit of time to understand how to run the bike here. In the afternoon I started to feel good and was able to ride with a good pace. We changed some things at the last moment and it seemed to be an improvement, so maybe that’s the direction we should continue to follow tomorrow – we want to confirm it. I followed my own feelings and created my own set-up and that’s what made me feel good – when I have my bike and I can ride it with my own riding style. Tomorrow we will check the setting and we have to improve the rhythm. I think we made an incredible step in the afternoon and riding consistent 1’30s is the most important. We also tried two different tyre specs today and tomorrow we’ll do the other two and we will see.”
Valentino Rossi
Position: 14th – Time: 1’30.888 – Laps: 65
“It was a tough day. We started quite well this morning, I did some good lap times, and after we had some work to do and some new things to try. Sincerely, I didn’t like it a lot. We tried some different things for the electronics and also the setting, but unfortunately we didn’t find an improvement. We also had to do a bit of work for Michelin. They wanted us to try some other rear tyres. We have to stay concentrated and follow a different way tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregali
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Team Director
“It was another day of hard work for us. We tried many things to improve the riders’ feeling on the bike. They each worked in their own direction. Maverick found something at the end of the day that seems to allow him to ride the bike the way he prefers. Tomorrow we will test if this change is indeed the way forward. Valentino also tried several setting variations, but none of them were an improvement, so tomorrow we’ll approach the issues differently. The riders also tried some of the four rear tyre specifications that Michelin brought here to test. We have still one more day of testing to complete, so we will see what the riders’ verdict is tomorrow.”
Enormous Progress for Tech3 Pair on Day 2 in Buriram
Johann Zarco and Hafizh Syahrin both turned up the pace on the second day of testing at the newly introduced Chang International Circuit. Johann Zarco did an amazing job in Thailand’s blistering heat to power to a time that was 0.945 seconds quicker than his pace on day one and finished close to the top in 5th position.
On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage Hafizh Syahrin adapted well to Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP bike on just his second day in the premier class. The Malaysian newcomer cut 1.167 seconds from his quickest lap yesterday, which made him leave a first fellow MotoGP rookie behind.
Johann Zarco
Position: 5th – Time: 1’30.360 – Laps: 60
“This was a great second day, I’m happy! Compared to yesterday, my position in the classification is a lot better, although I didn’t focus on this too much. On every lap I did today, I was quite fast. I didn’t do a long run yet, but I was using the used tyre well. However, I have to admit, that I expected a bigger improvement when I put in the new tyre, but at the same time this helps us to better understand the changing track conditions. We got good information and for me the balance of the bike is very nice now. I was able to push a lot and I’m just a few tenths behind the top guys, which means, that there are only small areas, where we need to increase. Tomorrow we have another day and as it’s the third day of testing here in Thailand, everybody will be even faster, because we know the track and learned how to ride the bike here. I hope that I can be very competitive to leave the Buriram Circuit with a smile.”
Hafizh Syahrin
Position: 23th – Time: 1’31.998 – Laps: 49
“I felt very good today, we raised our performance step by step, like we intended to do. This morning I felt really great and I was able to lower my lap time by more than one second compared to my very first day on Friday. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake in turn 7 this afternoon, which interrupted my progress a bit. Yet, I try to learn from this experience. For tomorrow I want to try to improve on the bike again, plus I aim to quickly find the same feeling I had this morning.”
