Rins, Quartararo "struggling a lot, One thing making our life complicated”
“We tried different things, but still the main problem is the same.”
Monster Yamaha riders Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo both battled turning difficulties on their way to 15th and 20th places during Friday practice for the Spanish MotoGP.
Turning used to be the M1’s strongpoint and the Jerez woes underline just how much work lies ahead, as Yamaha seeks to get on terms with the pace-setting European machines.
“We are still struggling with the same problems we had in the last few races. It's so difficult to turn the bike,” said Rins. “We tried different things, but still the main problem is the same.
“I tried to follow someone in the last minutes of this last practice and was able to make a comparison. We need to try something more for tomorrow. But we're trying a little bit of everything.
“We'll also check on Monday if the new [aero] items can help us turn. Maybe it's coming from the engine, from the inertia, we don't know exactly.
"But what is true is that we are struggling a lot."
Quartararo was among nine riders to fall in the afternoon.
“I was struggling on turning, just like Alex, and I think we are looking a bit too much into braking areas and are missing a lot on turning,” explained the Frenchman.
“I tried the hard front [tyre], but I locked the front straight away in Turn 7. Then, we tried something with the soft tyres, but it didn't go really well. Then, on the last time attack, we made some mistakes.
“But, anyway, the main issue is the turning, and that one thing is what's making our life complicated. I want to check the data from the previous year, check deeply what the difference is, and then make a plan from there.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
