The MotoGP test in Jerez was very busy for Monster Energy Yamaha, whose riders had many new solutions to test on their bikes. Álex Rins gives a positive assessment, but was expecting more in some aspects.
According to the Spaniard, the new fairing fell short compared to what was expected from wind tunnel data: ‘We tried several big items. Items that need time to analyze and compare. And honestly I felt good with some of them. I did several laps with the new fairing, I made several comparisons. Honestly I was expecting more than what you see on the bike, more difference, more performance. I mean, when you see the bike with this new fairing, it looks spectacular. The numbers in the wind tunnel are very different. But on track I was expecting a little more. I was able to ride better with this new fairing, but it was only tenths: 0.1s, 0.15s. But it’s a step forward that we made compared to the base setup’.
The new frame tested also fell short of Rins’ expectations: ‘I did several laps with the new frame. The idea was to have better cornering, and I didn’t like it that much, because I didn’t feel that much better in the cornering. We worked a bit, we made some adjustments with this new frame, but it’s still not 100 percent for the riding style, it will be better‘.
The rider continued: ‘Overall the test was not bad, we got a lot of information. In terms of electronics, I think we also took a small step forward, so overall I can say that the test was good‘.
Regarding the next steps for the new fairing, Rins stated: ‘It is certain that now the plan is to test this new aerodynamics at the Mugello test we have after Le Mans. We did not arrive in time to compete in Le Mans with this new aerodynamics. We test when we can. This was the first test we were able to do properly‘.
