MotoGP: Jerez test summary

The Jerez race seems to have put an end to the dominance of the Yamahas – this is a track that traditionally favours the Yamahas, but this race seemed to be for everyone except Yamaha, who struggled. The Monday after the race offers a unique opportunity for teams to assess their data from the race weekend and try and improve it without the pressure of qualifying hanging over their heads like the Sword of Damocles. Here’s how some of the riders fared. 

We start with championship leader Valentino Rossi, who didn’t have a very good time at the test. “For me, in general, this weekend was difficult because our bike don’t have a good marriage with the tires. This is the biggest problem. Also today, we understand something, but in the end, the feeling remained similar.” His teammate Maverick Vinales had a much better day of testing. He put in the fastest time of the day, two thousandths of a second quicker than Marquez. He tested the new Yamaha chassis, and found it improved his pace significantly. He had no real preference for the front tyre, because it doesn’t add or subtract from his riding style.

Fastest of the Hondas, Marquez was second fastest overall and preferred the front tyre with the stiffer construction – nothing that we weren’t expecting, given that his strength lies in out-braking the rest of the pack. Interestingly, Pedrosa also is happy with the stiffer tyre, despite his advantage over others with the softer front. He also spent some time testing the shorter exhaust that Cal Crutchlow used in the race. He found it ‘much improved’ since Austin. However, he did comment that the electronics need to be better.  

Jorge Lorenzo got a lot of miles under his belt – something that he’s been trying to do with the Ducati ever since the quantum leap he made in Austin. He didn’t prefer the stiffer front, but that could also be because the Ducati doesn’t stress the front tyre as much as the Hondas or Yamahas, meaning that even though the tyre isn’t as good, it will help his Ducati get better results. 

Yohann Zarco worked on his drive-out-of-the-corner, something which he missed in the race, and managed to improve his times. He had an interesting comment about the front tyre conundrum - he had no real feedback about the new tyre, because he simply doesn’t have enough experience.

The surprise package of the day was definitely Aleix Espargaro: he was fourth fastest on the day, and tested a bunch of new parts for Aprilia, including a new swing arm, cooling ducts for the fuel tank, and a new fairing. 

Hat tip to Asphalt and Rubber for the quote