Метка: Jerez Official Testing

Di Giannantonio fastest, Yamaha unveils overhauled M1

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Marking the first in-season test of the 2024 campaign, the MotoGP paddock remained at Jerez for an eight-hour session on Monday.

Run in good conditions, VR46 Ducati rider Di Giannantonio led the way with Maverick Vinales chasing him on the factory Aprilia.

Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli completed the top three from Spanish GP winner Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati, while Alex Rins was 14th as Yamaha debuted its new M1.

Marc Marquez topped the opening hour of running after the session got underway at 10am local time, with the Gresini rider posting a 1m36.826s.

Despite not running a factory-spec Ducati, Marquez and Gresini still had much to test, with Monday’s session at Jerez the first opportunity for the partnership to evolve the bike based on the eight-time world champion’s comments from the first four rounds.

Bagnaia found his way to the top of the order in the second hour of running with a 1m36.589s, before Di Giannantonio took over at the end of hour three with a 1m36.405s.

This would stand as the benchmark for the session through to the chequered flag, with nobody troubling this as the outing came to a close.

Yamaha YZR-M1 of Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Yamaha YZR-M1 of Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Lorenza Dadderio

Vinales got closest as he tested various new items, while also discovering that the bike he raced in the Spanish GP had a problem with it.

The Aprilia rider completed 80 laps compared to Di Giannantonio’s 70, while Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli was one of the busiest riders on the test day in third after 82 laps.

Bagnaia was fourth from Spanish GP rival Marquez in fifth, while Brad Binder completed the top six for KTM ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Gresini’s Alex Marquez, Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Yamaha stole most of the headlines on Monday as it unveiled its radically different bike, which featured – among other things – new aerodynamics, a new chassis, swingarm and electronic settings.

Alex Rins was 14th, 0.619s off the pace, while team-mate Fabio Quartararo was 18th.

Honda also had a new bike concept to try on Monday, with Takaaki Nakagami the leading HRC runner in 16th and Joan Mir the top factory team Honda runner in 21st.



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Honda has found ‘clear direction’ with new MotoGP concept

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


After four rounds in 2024, Honda has scored just 13 points in the manufacturers’ standings, with none of its riders breaking into the top 10 in grands prix yet.

During the Americas Grand Prix, Mir was very critical of Honda for pursuing what he felt was the wrong bike concept and said the marque had to “take responsibility” for this.

On Monday at the post-race Jerez test, however, Mir – who sat 20th as of 2pm local time – was buoyed by the bike he tried in the opening hours of the test and felt Honda had found the correct direction now to develop.

“For me, the day was more positive than what you could see because we tried a different concept,” he started.

“And honestly, I think it was working, was the direction I want to take for the future.

“It’s one direction that we need to develop but I think it can have some potential in the future – not now, but in the future.

“And more or less it was positive because we know the direction we finally have to take and this is nice.”

Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Team

Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Asked if it was a new engine he was testing, Mir added: “Well… we are testing different stuff on the engine, not probably [a full] engine, but different things to understand the direction. And I think I have things clear.”

Honda test rider Stefan Bradl contested last weekend’s Spanish GP on a lab bike, but Mir says this motorcycle was “not the right direction and I decided to continue with my one” for the Jerez weekend, having tried it in a test in Barcelona.

A key issue for Honda this year has been the bike’s poor turning, but the new bike concept Mir tried on Monday at Jerez appears to have improved on this.

“We are trying to find the turning that we are missing,” he said when asked what the new bike was doing better.

“That is the weakest point that we can have and it looks like we understood that with this thing we can have more turning.

“It’s true that we lose a lot in other areas but it’s areas where there is a lot of margin to improve. So, that gives us a direction.”



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