After a one-day break, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team came back to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo to start the 2024 pre-season at today’s one-day Valencia MotoGP Official Test. It was a full-on day for Fabio Quartararo and new recruit Álex Rins, who mainly worked on aerodynamics. They concluded the day in 12th and 19th place respectively in the overall timesheets.
Quartararo is eager to make a good start to the 2024 championship and used today’s available riding time (from 10:00 – 17:00 GMT +1) to test new aero parts, which the Frenchman evaluated as a positive step in the right direction. He also spent some time on the 2024 prototype engine and a new fairing. The number-20 rider posted a best time of 1’30.022s on lap 59/63 that put him in 12th position, 0.769s from the top.
Rins was excited to give the M1 a first try today. The Spaniard used the available track time to get familiar and comfortable with the Yamaha bike. In the afternoon, he opted to solely focus on collecting data on the new fairings rather than doing a time attack. His best time, a 1’30.564s, set on lap 45/54, put him in 19th place, 1.311s from first.
Cal Crutchlow and the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team also participated in today’s test, collecting extra information and insight into the new 2024 items. His 1’30.765s, set on lap 63/74, put him in 20th place, 1.512s off today’s top time.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP will now recharge their batteries during the winter break. They will be back in action in the new year for the Sepang shakedown from 1st – 3rd February, followed by the Sepang Test from 6th – 8th February and the Qatar Test from 19th – 20th March.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
Team Director
It was a long season, but today was an important day for our team. The wind wasn’t ideal, but we used the seven-hour session well. We mainly worked on three different items with Fabio today: aerodynamics – which was our priority, the first step of the 2024 engine, and a new chassis. Álex adapted so quickly to the bike that he too had the opportunity to test the new fairings. One day was maybe not enough to get everything set up perfectly because we had so many things to try, but all in all it’s been a positive day. Both riders noticed an improvement, and this confirms our course of action has been the right one. This test had good value, so we can now enjoy the winter break satisfied with the work we’ve done. We will send all the data to Yamaha Motor Company in Japan and Yamaha Motor Racing in Italy, where the Yamaha engineers will work tirelessly to prepare the next steps for the tests in Sepang.
FABIO QUARTARARO
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I think we got some positives today, but we still have to change many things. There were some big changes, especially on the aero side. But I think that the direction we took was the right one. We made a few steps, and hopefully at Sepang we can be at our 100%. Today, I was also feeling okay. I have to keep going with the antibiotics for a few days, but today was much better.
ÁLEX RINS
It was my first day with the Yamaha team, and I’m so happy because it was a really good day. We tested many things: small things regarding set-up. We only worked on the aerodynamics. I’m quite happy because I adapted quite well to the bike so early on. The last hours, from midday to the end of the session, we were trying fairings, and they made a step forward compared to the fairing I used in the morning, which was the race fairing.
- From Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
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