Alex Rins assesses new Yamaha engine after making Q2 in Malaysia

Alex Rins benefitted from a new specification of Yamaha MotoGP engine in Malaysia to qualify directly for Q2.

Rins ended the day with the seventh-fastest time, one place behind his factory Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo, even though much of his Friday was spent understanding and evaluating the new engine that Yamaha brought.

“This new engine is supposed to help going into the corner, and is supposed to help in top speed,” Rins explained.

“Today we got a lot of information,” Rins said. “They [Yamaha] bring a new engine, the base is a little bit different, so we need time to analyse — which bike, because [I had] only one engine, so we change in which bike it was going better or not.

“The lap time, I focus on the new engine; I did it with the new engine because the setup on that bike it was more our base one.”

Rins’ second bike had a different setting based on one he’d wanted to try on Sunday in Buriram, but was unable to test in dry conditions there due to the rain.

“We tried the bike a little bit different, in a different way, as we had planned in Buriram, but still I’m not sure if it’s working or not, so it needs time to analyse.

“But, overall, our pace is not so good, but we are in Q2, so this gave us margin to improve the bike for tomorrow.”

Despite making it to Q2, Rins said he “cannot say 100 per cent clear yet,” whether Yamaha had made progress or not in one-lap speed, and he was also without a new electronics package that was tried by Quartararo.

“I didn’t test any different electronics, I just had the same electronics as the last race,” Rins said.

“It’s true that, between Fabio [Quartararo] and me, there is a different approach on the electronic side, but I don’t know what he tested this afternoon.

“Overall, for sure it’s so nice to have both riders in Q2, so this is a good thing for Yamaha.”