04-19 – Spanish GP – Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP –

Posted on by admin

Johann Zarco dominates practice after Spanish GP

04-19 - Spanish GP - Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP -

Johann Zarco, second in the Spanish GP behind Marc Marquez, was the fastest in the official practice session held on Monday after the race. The French driver took advantage of more favorable conditions to turn faster than in qualifying ! Debriefing.

Almost all MotoGP teams spent an extra day in Andalusia as part of a day of official "post Grand Prix" testing, with the exception of the official Aprilia, Ducati and Suzuki teams. The pilots took the opportunity to discover a new Michelin soft tire and work on new parts.

  • Spanish GP :
  • MNC file : 

Very quickly at the top of the timesheet, Johann Zarco completed a total of 63 laps on his Yamaha Tech3, setting the best time in 1’37.730. Or just 0.077 sec from the set by Crutchlow during the Spanish GP qualifying (1’37.653) !

04-19 - Spanish GP - Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP -

"The test was good for me and I’m very happy to have been so fast," said Johann, who won two tenths of his qualifying time (1’37.956). "The goal was to find more grip and to use the bike well, and it’s going pretty well at the moment".

  • Spanish GP : 

Two factors nevertheless favored its performance: the first is the fact that the No.5 had no new parts to test, which allowed it to fine-tune its weekend tune-up. This lack of novelties will probably be the trend now, since Cannes and his Tech3 team are joining … On the other hand, grip was better on Monday because temperatures were lower.

Rossi and Viñales still struggling

Remember that when the temperature rises, the Jerez track becomes quite slippery and requires excellent traction. Much to the dismay of the official Yamaha riders, whose M1 literally "slips" when the grip is lacking! A problem attributed to electronics by Viñales and Rossi, respectively 4th and 10th in this test.

 04-19 - Spanish GP - Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP -

Despite his return to the Top 5 and a very decent time of 1’38.139, Maverick Viñales is absolutely not satisfied with his test day in Andalusia. For the Spanish driver, 7th in the Spanish GP 13.5 sec from the winner, none of the glove ailments after the race were resolved on Monday…

"On Monday we are always better, but it’s Sunday that we have to be fast", slips, annoyed, the n ° 25, for whom the improvement of his pace is only the result of more favorable weather conditions . "We have to keep working and try to find solutions, we haven’t settled anything yet"…

Rossi thinks things will improve … in the second half of the season !

Valentino Rossi, for his part, is more positive, despite his distant position in the standings for this day of testing. The Doctor thinks he has found some ways to improve the balance of his M1, but continues to demand a leap forward from Yamaha in terms of electronics. The No.46 hopes his wishes will be heard during the private test planned by Yamaha at Mugello on Thursday…

04-19 - Spanish GP - Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP -

"We will have something more important in the next test," said the nine-time world champion leaving the circuit of Jerez. However, Rossi warns that the road will be long: "if all goes well and if we do things well, we can see improvements for the second part of the championship"…

Not very optimistic as forecasts … The Yamaha clan should however regain color from the next race, on a circuit favorable to M1: Le Mans, which will host the May 18-20..

Last year, Viñales won there – ahead of Zarco and Pedrosa – after a fight at daggers drawn with Rossi, who ended up on the mat on the last lap under pressure from his young teammate. Since then, "Mack" has never been on the top step of the podium again, a year without success for the one who struggles to succeed Lorenzo !

New fairings for Honda

At Honda, this test at Jerez was mainly used to unveil a new fairing whose – enormous – protuberances at the front replace the now banned fins. With success apparently, since Crutchlow and Pedrosa are second and third: "I am very happy with the work done", admits "Pedro", a little "crumpled" at the beginning of the day following his spectacular fall during his !

Marc Marquez, winner of the race on Sunday, appears for his part in 5th place ahead of debutant Franco Morbidelli and Tito Rabat of the Ducati Avintia team. Good performance also for the "Rookie" Takaaki Nakagami, who places his Honda-LCR in 8th place at 7 tenths of the reference time..

As for the new rear tire brought by Michelin during this test, all the riders seem to have appreciated it: it is moreover with this "Soft" rubber that Johann Zarco set the best time of the day! This tire will be introduced in the allocation at the beginning of June, on the occasion of the Italian GP at Mugello.

 04-19 - Spanish GP - Johann Zarco dominates the tests after the Spanish GP -

It should be noted that Johann’s teammate, the Malaysian Hafizh Syahrin, did not take to the track in order to rest his body bruised by a big fall on his bike that occurred before the Spanish GP. Despite the searing pain, the Malaysian rider however finished the race in 16th place ahead of Simeon and Abraham. !

Most of the teams will now focus on the next scheduled race in France while Aprilia, Ducati, Suzuki and Yamaha will continue to develop their bikes in private tests scheduled at Mugello this weekend..

Results and standings of the post-race test in Jerez

  1. ZARCO, Johann 1: 37.730 
  2. CRUTCHLOW, Cal 1: 37.947 0.217
  3. PEDROSA, Dani 1: 37.980 0.250
  4. VIÑALES, Maverick 1: 38.139 0.409
  5. MARK, Mark 1: 38.232 0.502
  6. MORBIDELLI, Franco 1: 38.288 0.558
  7. RABAT, Tito 1: 38.304 0.574
  8. NAKAGAMI, Takaaki 1: 38.444 0.714
  9. MILLER, Jack 1: 38.586 0.856
  10. ROSSI, Valentino 1: 38.673 0.943
  11. SMITH, Bradley 1: 38.674 0.944
  12. ESPARGARO, Pol 1: 38.684 0.954
  13. BAUTISTA, Alvaro 1: 39.135 1.405
  14. KALLIO, Mika 1: 39.232 1.502
  15. LUTHI, Thomas 1: 39.643 1.913
  16. SIMEON, Xavier 1: 39.720 1.99

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *