Alex Rins: ‘I will push to go back to the chassis that Fabio has’
“I rode with Fabio… He was going quite well and it's clear the difference. I cannot stop the bike.”
Alex Rins intends to return to the same Yamaha chassis as team-mate Fabio Quartararo after struggling in the hard braking areas during Friday practice for the Thai MotoGP.
Quartararo briefly topped the afternoon session and was still in the top three when time attacks began, after which the persistent issue of extracting maximum performance from fresh rubber on the M1 saw him pushed to 12th (+0.591s).
But Rins was down the order throughout, eventually classified in 18th place, just under half-a-second from Quartararo.
“Not an easy day,” said Rins. “The morning was not bad. I was feeling OK, considering that last year I didn't ride here.
“But the afternoon was really tough. We started with the soft front tyre and I struggled a lot because temperature on track was so high.
“So we went to the hard front, the tyre we used in FP1, and I felt much better, with much more confidence. But still far. I mean I didn't improve 0.5-0.6s [by changing] to the hard front tyre.”
Rins then followed Quartararo during a time attack, which underlined his braking issues.
“The time attacks were so difficult for me, I rode with Fabio for my second tyre. He was going quite well and it's clear the difference,” Rins said. “I cannot stop the bike. I'm just going wide in all the braking. Corner 1, corner 3.
“My feeling is that I'm struggling with the front,” he explained. “Like Corner 3 for example, I'm braking at the same point as Fabio. I say Fabio because he's my [only direct] reference on the Yamaha bike.
“So, compared with him, we brake in the same point and I have like big movements on the front, like locking, like bumping. It’s been the same for many races.”
Asked if there is a technical difference between the M1s that might contribute to the contrast in braking, Rins revealed he had gone back to the ‘standard’ chassis.
“We have a different chassis. In Phillip Island, we decided to go back to the standard one. Because it's the chassis I’ve made more races with,” Rins said.
“The modification that Fabio has, and the chassis that I made two races with [before], my feeling was not bad. But I have more experience with the other, so we decided to go back to that one.
“But for sure, for [Saturday] I will push to go back to the chassis that Fabio has, the chassis they gave us in Misano, so at least we will have similar bikes.
“I don't want to copy the same setup as Fabio because we have different riding styles. This is clear. But at least [the bikes will be similar spec].”
Rins also confirmed he had re-tried the latest version of Yamaha’s ‘automatic’ Ducati-style ride-height system - activated by pressing a button on the way into a corner, then lowering itself on the exit.
“I tried it quite a lot in FP1. It was working good, but I feel more comfortable with the 'manual' one,” he said.
In other words, Rins still prefers to have full control over the timing of when the rear is lowered on the exit.
