After a great weekend at the Catalan GP, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team were back out on track on Monday for an official post-race test in Barcelona. Franco Morbidelli set the second fastest time of the day, less than a tenth of a second off the fastest lap. Both he and team-mate Fabio Quartararo – who placed fifth – used the one-day test to work more thoroughly on different aspects of their Yamaha YZR-M1.
Morbidelli enjoyed a positive day, which he ended with a quickest lap of 1min 39.014secs that put him second on the timesheets after eight hours of action. The PETRONAS Yamaha SRT rider focused his work on electronics from early in the morning, with the aim of finding an explanation for the race pace and performance challenge he faced in Sunday’s race. The Italian, who completed a total of 78 laps of the Catalan track, also tested a new rear tyre.
Fresh from his first premier class podium, Quartararo continued his quest for further improvement from the performance of his bike. The Frenchman had his first outing on track after noon, and devoted much of the test to electronic settings and strategies. Over the course of 56 laps, he also tried out several different tyre compounds, and finished the day as the fifth fastest rider with a time of 1min 39.428secs.
The MotoGP riders will return to action from June 28th-30th at the Dutch GP.
#21 Franco Morbidelli
“Today we had the opportunity to work on aspects of the bike that we didn’t have the chance to look at during the race weekend. In particular, we tested different electronics set-ups. We took a step forward with engine braking, especially in the afternoon, so this has been a very positive point of this test. I’m also very happy with the results from the tyres we tested, and I think it is a step in the right direction. Today has been a positive day for us and we hope to be able to use everything we tried today at Assen – especially the electronics.”
#20 Fabio Quartararo
“Today we tried out some changes to the electronics, some different settings for Assen and some new tyre compounds that have been brought here specially for the test. We haven’t put in many laps, since today I felt that my arm was very stiff after a weekend of riding. However, it was a positive day because we were able to work more thoroughly on the electronics, something that is always interesting to manage. In addition, I think we found something special on corner exit that can help us to prolong the life of the tyres at the end of the race. We hope to be able to put it into practice at the coming races.”
