Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Focus on Set-Up Details During One-Day Jerez Test

Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), 6th May 2019

JEREZ IRTA TEST

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi returned to the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto for the one-day official IRTA Test. They worked on some electronics specs, tested new rear tires, and took 5th and 17th place, respectively, on the overall timesheets.

Less than 24 hours after the Spanish GP, Viñales and Rossi were back in their leathers at the Circuito de Jerez where they resumed their YZR-M1 development by trying new electronics solutions.

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 trying the grip of the two new Michelin rear tires 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 1’37.226sec on lap 90, for fifth place, 0.847sec from first.

Rossi ran a similar test program 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 focus on the settings he had not been able to try during the race weekend. Like Viñales, he rode until the end of the session, putting in 74 laps in total. His best time, a 1’38.056sec set on lap 59, put him in 17th place in today’s standings, 1.677sec 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 in Le Mans in two weeks’ time.