Mandalika familiarization Continues for Dovizioso and Binder

12-02-2022

Mandalika familiarization Continues for Dovizioso and Binder

The WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team achieves further improvements throughout the second day in Lombok, Indonesia.

Saturday saw the MotoGP riders getting more familiar with the picturesque Mandalika Circuit. In scorching heat, the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team riders stepped forward today, getting along better and better at the 4.3-kilometer Indonesian venue, while track conditions slightly meliorated again.

After finding some positives in riding his Yamaha YZR-M1, Andrea Dovizioso aimed to continue where he left off on Friday, but a crash in the morning halted his progress early. Yet, the experienced Italian managed to regain confidence later on and eventually lowered his lap time from day one in the afternoon by 0.942 seconds to a personal best of 1:32.303 minutes with further 70 laps on his account.

At the same time, Darryn Binder displayed some great progress today. The MotoGP rookie, who is still learning his new machine and had to master the new layout at once, went 1.442 seconds faster than during the opening day to achieve a personal best of 1:33.053 minutes. Binder lapped the track 54 times today.

Sunday marks the final day of pre-season testing for the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team and the entire premier class field at the Mandalika Circuit, before everyone gears up for the first round of 2022 on March 6th in Qatar.

Andrea Dovizioso

"It was a strange day, because I crashed and I forgot how this feels. Apparently, I don’t remember the last time, but it was in 2020, so long time ago. And I did it the right way, really fast in turn eight. But I know I did a small mistake and I lost the front. That changed the plan a little bit, so I couldn’t work through it accordingly. But when we restarted in the afternoon, my feeling was better and I’m happy about the improvements we did with the bike, as we tried some material and the feeling was better. That was very important, because we have to take a decision for the first round in Qatar. About that I’m happy. Unfortunately, I did the fast lap time one hour before the end, because we had something to try. Therefore, the gap is a bit too big, but I hope we will have another day without rain to work on details, because for sure I still have to continue to adapt. I’m better and better, but it’s not enough yet."

Darryn Binder

"Today was good. I made a nice step forward compared to yesterday. I think everybody did that. I was really happy with the way we were working throughout the day. It felt like we were getting closer and closer step by step. At the end, when the track got even better, I really wanted to make a big step forward. On my first lap, I improved quite a bit, but unfortunately, on the second lap, I had a crash in turn 12, which is a little bit sad and not a good way to end the day. But I feel good. If I can get everything right in a lap, I think I can do a good time. IT’s just that I’m still making a couple of mistakes and at this track, where it’s still dirty off the line, a little mistake is costly. I’ve been struggling to fix all the points perfect, but overall, I’m happy. Tomorrow I just want to try to keep improving and get a little bit closer."