Álex Rins continues to take important steps towards adapting to his new bike, the Yamaha M1, and ended the day with the 11th fastest time. For the rider, in general almost everything he tested worked, with him saying that aerodynamics is the key today.
Rins began his analysis of the day like this: ‘We had a lot of things to test during the Shakedown, today and for the next two days. Today was a bit strange because we didn’t have enough tyres, we needed to save some for tomorrow. It was an interesting test, we found some paths from a technical point of view that I think will help us in the future’.
And the feedback seems to be positive on most of what you tested:
– We only rode with the new 2024 engine, it didn’t make sense to test the 2023 engine because I’ve never ridden with them with that year’s engine and I started directly with two bikes with the latest engine. Then we tested different chassis, swingarms, fairings, and in general 75 to 80 per cent of things work, they work well, maybe even 90 per cent, but we still have things to see, which Cal [Crutchlow] has already tested. We’re on the right track.
On whether it was easy for him to go back to an inline engine, the Spaniard said: ‘It was the same. At the moment the most important thing on a MotoGP bike is aerodynamics, with good aerodynamics you can corner well and for me, honestly, at the moment it doesn’t matter if you have an inline engine or a V4. I didn’t feel much difference’.
Regarding his position on the bike, the #42 said: ‘I felt very good. On the first day of the Shakedown we changed the position of the handlebars a bit, but now I feel really good on the bike’.