Monster Energy Yamaha Start 2023 Campaign with Valencia Test

08-11-2022

Monster Energy Yamaha Start 2023 Campaign with Valencia Test

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli returned to the Ricardo Tormo Circuit today to kick off their 2023 testing programme. They took 9th and 14th place respectively in today‘s final results.

After a one-day break, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team started working on their 2023 set-up in today‘s one-day Valencia MotoGP Official Test. It was a full-on day for Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, who each had four bikes at their disposal, fitted with various items for testing. They concluded the day in 9th and 14th place respectively in the overall timesheets.

Quartararo is eager to make a good start to the 2023 championship and used today‘s available riding time (from 09:30 – 17:30 GMT +1) to test new aero parts, rear wings, a new chassis, and the 2023 prototype engine he had already tried at previous tests this year. He posted a best time of 1‘30.578s on lap 83/92, which put him in ninth position, 0.546s from the top.

Morbidelli had a good day of testing in Valencia. He entered the track in the morning and immediately noticed an improvement with the new chassis. The Italian used the remaining hours to compare various settings as well as test items for the prototype 2023 YZR-M1 bike. Mostly focusing on collecting data rather than doing a time attack, his best time, a 1‘30.691s, set on lap 81/88, earned him 14th place, 0.659s from first.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"It was a strange test. We tried a new aero package, a new chassis, and the new engine, but what we expected from the new engine is not what we felt today. It felt different from what we experienced at the previous tests in Catalunya and Misano. We need to analyse to see what happened so we can make a change. But in other areas, like downforce, we made a big step. We did two runs with the new chassis and after that we were especially working with the aero package. I think we found something. We will analyse the data well to confirm which option is better. I think we improved a little bit with the rear wings, and I‘m pretty impressed that a little thing on the rear can make us improve in some areas."

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"It has been a busy day. We‘ve done a lot of laps and tried a lot of things. We went over different chassis, two different engine specifications, and some aerodynamic changes. We collected a lot of data – that is important. I‘m sure that the engineers are going to do their best at home in Japan to give us the right improvements for the next season."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"It was a long day. We had a lot of homework to do, so we had to maximise the day as much as we could. We tested a new chassis, aero package, winglets, and a new engine. As always, some things worked better for us than others. We were surprised that we didn't see the performance from the engine that we were expecting. We have tested it before in Barcelona, Misano, Motegi, and Jerez, but we had different feedback here. We will send it back to Japan along with today's data and check what the reason is. Aside from that, we are satisfied with the work we've done today. We got a good result from the aero package and the chassis, with which especially Franky was happy. So, all in all, today's data has good value."