IRTA/FIM MotoGP World Championship Test
Automotodrom Brno, Czech Republic
August 6, 2018
Test Results (all on Michelin tires):
1. Marc Marquez, Spain (Honda), 1:55.209
2. Johann Zarco, France (Yamaha), 1:55.342
3. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Honda), 1:55.399
4. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Ducati), 1:55.517
5. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Ducati), 1:55.609
6. Cal Crutchlow, UK (Honda), 1:55.771
7. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yamaha), 1:55.918
8. Danilo Petrucci, Italy (Ducati), 1:55.939
9. Alex Rins, Spain (Suzuki), 1:55.986
10. Hafizh Syahrin, Malaysia (Yamaha), 1:56.032
11. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Suzuki), 1:56.111, crash
12. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (Aprilia), 1:56.366, crash
13. Bradley Smith, UK (KTM), 1:56.566
14. Takaaki Nakagami, Japan (Honda), 1:56.622
15. Franco Morbidelli, Italy (Honda), 1:56.697
16. Scott Redding, UK (Aprilia), 1:56.855
17. Jack Miller, Australia (Ducati), 1:56.885, crash
18. Thomas Luthi, Switzerland (Honda), 1:57.034
19. Sylvain Guintoli, France (Suzuki), 1:57.843
20. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan (Honda), 1:59.334
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Marquez back on top in Brno test
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) topped the Brno test was a late lunge for the top, setting a 1:55.209 on one of his last laps of the day. Repsol Honda were working with some “important” components so says the reigning Champion, but details remained close to their chests. Teammate Dani Pedrosa was third quickest after having led the way for some time in the afternoon, and Hiroshi Aoyama was also out on track in place of Stefan Bradl testing for HRC – with the trio banking more than 150 laps between them.
Marquez also tried a new Michelin tyre that was available at the test, although LCR Honda Castrol’s Crutchlow didn’t. The Brit, instead, tested something for HRC as the number 93 was tasked with giving his opinion on the new rubber. Crutchlow’s teammate Takaaki Nakagami, meanwhile, worked on settings and finished the test just ahead of key rookie rival and fellow Honda rider Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) as the two took P14 and P15 respectively.
Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was top Yamaha, moving up to second late on and, in an uncharacteristic day of action for the Frenchman, riding until very late on as he did more than 70 laps. Teammate Hafizh Syahrin did only a handful less and was top rookie, completing the top ten. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was P7 and second Yamaha, however, with the factory riders not having any real novelties to test and rather carrying on their work to end their victory drought. Maverick Viñales, after a crash out of the race early on, sat out the test following pain in his shoulder as a consequence of the fall.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were next on the timesheets after Marquez, Zarco and Pedrosa. The Czech GP winner and runner up were working on aero and frames but had nothing big to test – focused on fine-tuning. Nevertheless, the two together put in almost 100 laps for the Borgo Panigale marque and were only 0.092 apart by the end of play. Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) was P8 after just over 30 laps, but teammate Jack Miller only did 13 – a crash after an issue on his first bike put paid to his plans, but rider ok. The team elected not to run the second machine containing a new engine.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was top Hamamatsu factory machine in P9 after more than 60 laps, and he was focused on electronics, the carbon chassis and a 2019 chassis. Teammate Andrea Iannone, however, had a shorter day – crashing early and sitting out the remainder of the day. Test rider Sylvain Guintoli did get some good mileage despite his broken ribs, though, putting in 37 for the Japanese manufacturer.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was another coming back from injury as he took P12 on the timesheets and was top Noale machine. The Spaniard was testing a carbon swingarm before a crash that then ruled him out after 26 laps, and teammate Scott Redding focused on a modified fuel tank and seat.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Bradley Smith, meanwhile, was P13 on the timesheets and did nearly 70 laps. The sole KTM on track as test rider Mika Kallio remains sidelined following a German GP crash and Pol Espargaro recovers from a fall in the Czech GP, the Brit had plenty to work on as the constant development continues despite their tougher run of late.
That’s it from Brno and it’s next stop Austria as the paddock now head for the stunning Red Bull Ring in the Styrian alps. The hills will be alive with the sound of MotoGP™ once again from the ninth to 11th August.
More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:
Zarco and Syahrin stay on track for one day test in Brno
Following a successful Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceske Republiky the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team was back in action today at the Automotodrom Brno in order to find improvements for the remaining nine rounds of 2018. Thereby, Johann Zarco did some fine tuning on his Yamaha YZR-M1 and eventually did a best lap of 1’55.342 minutes, which put him in a superb second position as the best Yamaha rider of the field.
On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage, Hafizh Syahrin was working intensely with his crew, lapping the 5.403-kilometer circuit 65 times while working on his riding style. The MotoGP rookie completed the day in 10th, just 0.690 seconds behind his teammate. Now the entire paddock is leaving straight to Spielberg for the Austrian GP this weekend.
Johann Zarco
Position: 2nd – Time: 1’55.342 – Laps: 71
“This test here in Brno has been quite ok. We’ve got nothing new to test, but just tried some different settings on the bike to find a better setup in order to feel more comfortable on it, obviously with the experience I got in the race yesterday. I think we did some decent work, had some good laps and now I’m getting the right feeling. I believe my comments were much better today to find very small things that we hope will give us a better pace for the next races. We were offered to test a new tyre, but we didn’t use it. In the end, we just did a lot of laps and I enjoyed to be on the bike.”
Hafizh Syahrin
Position: 10th – Time: 1’56.032 – Laps: 65
“It has been an intense test today because I really wanted to work with the bike. We did many laps and I feel very good with the bike now. We understand little by little, especially with the electronic. We tried different things on the front to help me for turning. We found many good points today, so I’m truly happy with the test. I ride calmer and I think I do the same time like my best during the weekend, but I ride more relaxed, which is great. Before I was fighting with the bike and now I understand it a lot better. I think we can continue like that in Austria.”
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda Castrol:
CRUTCHLOW BACK ON THE TRACK IN BRNO
LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow was amongst the pacesetters as the majority of the MotoGP field returned to the Brno circuit for a day of official testing on Monday. The Briton enjoyed a productive weekend at the venue as he took fifth place in Sunday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix, narrowly missing out on fourth after a great battle with Valentino Rossi.
Crutchlow took the opportunity on Monday to try out a few new parts for the front end of his RC213V and was again towards the head of the field throughout the session. He completed a total of 43 laps and posted a best time of 1’55.771 midway through his testing schedule. He is now looking to build on his performance in the next round of the championship in Austria this weekend.
Cal Crutchlow – 6th
(1’55.771 – lap 20 of 43)
“We had a good day today. The track is always nice to ride on a Monday after Grand Prix as there’s a lot of rubber on the track and you’re able to set fast lap times. We’re happy enough, we had some small parts to try for the front of the bike, some forks, and a small geometry to give a different feeling on the braking area. But otherwise we had no new parts. I didn’t try the new Michelin tyre, I let Marc (Marquez) try that. He tried something for me and I tried something for him. He said it was no better really. We have to assess the data from the new forks, there were some positives and some negatives.”
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda Idemitsu:
USEFUL TEST FOR TAKA IN BRNO
LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami was back out on the track on Monday for a day of official MotoGP testing following the Czech Republic Grand Prix. It proved a frustrating weekend for the Japanese rookie; he finished Sunday’s race just outside the points in 17th position, finding it difficult to re-adapt to his RC213V after competing in the Suzuka 8-Hour race for Honda the weekend previously.
During the test session, Nakagami revealed that he and his team had focused their efforts on trying to find a reason for their struggles at Brno and were successful to that end. The 26-year-old – who completed 18 laps – is now hoping to use those learnings for this weekend’s race in Austria when he will look to get back into the top 15 after five races without any points.
Takaaki Nakagami – 14th
(1’56.222 – lap 4 of 18)
“For us weren’t testing anything special today. We didn’t test the new Michelin tyres, we were just focusing on why we struggled during the race weekend. With the back-to-back races, we had to double check on the settings because we have two bikes – one bike for the previous test and one bike for the race weekend. So we double-checked the set-up of the bike and we now understand why we struggled so much on the race weekend and that is the main thing. We did a few laps, but it was a good test and now we’re really focusing on the next race in Austria.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki ECSTAR:
TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR COMPLETE BOILING BRNO TEST
Alex Rins: 9th – 1:55.986 (+ 0.777)
Andrea Iannone: 11th – 1:56.111 (+ 0.902)
Sylvain Guintoli: 19th – 1:57.843 (+ 2.634)
•Unfortunate crash for Andrea Iannone.
•Rins and Guintoli make useful progress.
•Work focused on new electronics and improved chassis.
After a tricky Czech Grand Prix which saw temperatures soar, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s three riders were back out on track on Monday morning at the official MotoGP test.
The day was cut short for Andrea Iannone, however, as the Italian suffered a crash after running wide at Turn 10 and going down in the gravel trap. An initial X-Ray at the Clinica Mobile found nothing broken, but Andrea continued to feel a lot of pain and it was decided to put an end to his test. Prior to the crash he was able to put in 26 laps with a best time of 1:56.111.
Meanwhile, Alex Rins was able to do some comparison runs between different chassis configurations. Including a chassis with a partially new specification that ahs already been used by Guintoli in the Czech GP weekend. The Spaniard also worked on electronics and trialled a new front tyre brought by Michelin for the use of all riders.
Test Rider Sylvain Guintoli, who rode the GP of Brno with two broken ribs, took to the track for a total of 37 laps and was able to gain useful information. He worked in many of the same areas as Alex Rins and felt the test had been a positive one.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“It’s been a good opportunity to test today, despite the tight schedule between the two races. So I have to say thanks very much to the riders and the team for all the effort they’ve put in. With Alex we found some good information overall, especially on the electronics settings – which we are always trying to improve. Unfortunately Andrea had a crash and we decided to finish his test in order to give him more time to relax and recover for next weekend. Anyway, it’s been good to test and we’ll try to use this information as much as possible next weekend.”
Andrea Iannone
“I wasn’t able to test much, because this morning I crashed and I have a lot of pain in my left shoulder. I’ve had problems with this shoulder in the past and we decided it’s better not to risk further damage before the Austrian GP. This morning, before the crash, my feeling was good and positive. We knew we needed to work on consistency, and we began with that, but in the end it wasn’t possible to continue.”
Alex Rins
“Today we tried a lot of things, firstly in the electronics and also we did a comparison between the actual carbon chassis and an improved one, that was brought here by Sylvain. With the electronics I feel we have done some improvements, and we’ll keep working to understand the bike better.”
Sylvain Guintoli
“We’ve completed a useful test and tried some different items, it’s been good. The weekend here went very well, I could’ve done without the injury as it’s been really painful, but we completed everything and got a lot of information. We confirmed some parts on the chassis which we’d already tried in Motegi, and we worked on many different things including electronics strategies. We’re working hard but of course races are the best tests for the data. We’re working in the short, medium, and long term – everything has a value either for now or for the future.”
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
Marc Marquez on top in Brno test with Pedrosa a close third fastest
Fresh from an important podium finish, Championship leader Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa were back on track in Brno for a one-day test, held in sunny and fair weather conditions that were cooler than yesterday’s race, with air and ground temperatures of 25° and 34° C, respectively.
The Repsol Honda men worked on HRC’s intense programme which included testing several new updates and which focused on improving the bike’s setup.
Marc was fastest of the day with his time of 1’55.209” on lap 67 of 77, while Dani finished the day third with a time of 1’55.399” on lap 46 of 52.
Marc Marquez 93
1ST 1’55.209
“Today was positive and I’m very happy because we did a lot of laps with a good feeling since the start of the test. We started early this morning and we went on until the evening with a new thing to try in every run. It’s tough when you have such a busy schedule, but Honda is working hard and that’s great motivation for a rider; we did a great job in testing everything that they brought here to Brno. Michelin is also working hard towards the future and brought a new front tyre here to test. Honestly it didn’t work as we were hoping for but it’s very good for us to see how much effort they give in trying to always improve, and surely today they gathered some useful information. As usual, towards the end of the day we put all of the best things together and we’ve done a good lap time. The fastest lap wasn’t the main target though, as it was more important to work for the future. In the end we’ve found several positive things and we’ll use something in the next race. I’m happy with the direction we’re taking and with the work we’re doing.”
Dani Pedrosa 26
3RD 1’55.399
“Today we worked hard trying to improve on the feeling we had in yesterday’s race and actually we did have a better feeling. The great change today was the track conditions, which were very good. The weather was perfect and the asphalt offered very good grip with a lot of rubber on track after an entire race weekend. We tried different electronics and suspension setup options and everything I tried was an improvement, so I could be faster and more consistent. It’s difficult to understand how much of this is a result of the track conditions and if it will be helpful on other tracks, so we’ll have to wait and see in Austria in few days.”
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
MOVISTAR YAMAHA TRY NEW SOLUTIONS AT BRNO TEST
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi concluded the one-day Brno Official Post-GP Test 2018 in seventh place. Teammate Maverick Viñales still felt sore from yesterday’s crash and sat out the event. He will join the team activities again at round 11 of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship, held in Austria this weekend.
Brno (Czech Republic), 6th August 2018
One day after the Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceské republiky race, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi was back on the Automotodrom Brno circuit for a one-day official IRTA test.
Teammate Maverick Viñales opted not to join today’s 8-hour long session, in an effort to fully recover from yesterday‘s crash in time for the eyetime Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, held this weekend.
Being the only rider out on track for the Yamaha Factory Racing team, Rossi spent a productive day trying new items, testing various setting details, and providing feedback on the prototype 2019 Michelin front tyre.
The Doctor started just before eleven and was one of the last riders to call it a day at six o’clock, riding 51 laps in total. The result of his hard work during the test was positive overall. Though not really pushing to put in a strong time-attack, the Italian still ended the day in seventh place with a best lap of 1‘55.918s, 0.709s from the top.
The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will now travel to the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg for the next round of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship and will resume track action this Friday.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
It’s always good to test after the race, because it helps us draw an immediate comparison and allows riders to give clear feedback. We focused on the electronics today, it was our main objective, with the aim to improve drivability of the bike, especially on the first touch of the throttle. We also tried the new Michelin front tyre and at the end of the day we were able to test a new fairing. It’s a shame that Maverick couldn’t join us, as we would have valued his input very much, but we also put high importance on his well-being. We hope he no longer feels sore from yesterday’s crash when we start riding again in Austria on the Friday. Though today’s testing had to be done with one rider, it was still a positive day overall.
VALENTINO ROSSI
It was a good test, because we had very hot conditions – similar to those we had during the GP weekend – so we could try something else. We worked on acceleration on the first touch of the throttle and also on trying to save the tyres during the races. We tried different things and found that some things were good, but we have to put them all together. Unfortunately we weren’t able to improve the performance from yesterday, so I think for Austria the situation will be the same.