Less than 24 hours after the Spanish GP, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGPs Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi were back in their leathers at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto for the official Jerez MotoGP Test. They resumed their YZR-M1 development by trying new electronics solutions and took 5th and 17th place respectively in today’s rankings.
Encouraged by yesterday’s third-place finish, Viñales headed out late in the morning with specific tasks in mind. He had decided to work on acceleration, smooth delivery of engine power, and on trying the grip of the two new Michelin rear tyres in the hotter conditions. Making the most of the available time to collect as much data as possible, the Spaniard completed 94 laps, setting a personal best time of 1’37.226s on lap 90, for fifth place, 0.847s from first.
Rossi ran a similar testing programme to his team-mate in an effort to further improve bike performance. He left pit lane as soon as the circuit was up to a good temperature, eager to fully focus on the settings he had not been able to try during the race weekend. Like Viñales, he rode until the very end of the session, putting in 74 laps in total. His best time, a 1’38.056s set on lap 59, put him in 17th place in today’s standings, 1.677s from the top.
The team worked through the packed schedule without putting in any hot laps. As they found some small improvements, they felt mostly satisfied with the outcome of the day’s hard work. The findings will be put into practice at the next round, the Grand Prix de France, held in Le Mans in two weeks’ time.
Maverick Viñales, 5th – 1’37.226
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team
“We tested many items today. I did a lot of laps on race tyres, which wasn’t bad. I was riding quite well over a race distance, but anyway we need to keep improving. Le Mans is a track where the grip level is quite good, so I’m not too worried about it. It’s a good track for me, so my mind is already there at the French GP. We have found some positives and negatives in today’s test, as always, but nothing special. There are still some things to improve, especially on my side, my riding style, and we need to find something to improve the traction. But I’m not worried because my race pace was there, I was feeling close to the top.”
Valentino Rossi, 17th – 1’38.056
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team
“We had a programme for today. We had some things to try to improve the package, especially working on the acceleration, on the grip, all these things. The test wasn’t too bad. We didn’t find something that will change our lives, but there were some details that, if you put them all together in the package, maybe we can be stronger. I also had to try the two tyres for Michelin. These are two tyres we will use in Austria and Buriram. They are harder and stronger, but I wanted to try them, because usually we suffer a little bit with that type of tyre, but it wasn’t a time attack.”
Massimo Meregalli
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“We were able to complete our work programme today. Above all we had to try some electronics set-ups to improve acceleration and the two new rear tyre specs that Michelin gave us today. Because we focused fully on these tasks, we didn’t think about doing a time attack to put in a hot lap. We have found some small improvements that can be used for the next GP in Le Mans. In all honesty, we expected something more significant but, in any case, another step was taken. We will try new updates at the next test in Barcelona.”
