Álex Rins completed his first day on Tuesday as a rider for Monster Energy Yamaha in MotoGP. He finished in 19th position in the Valencia tests, while his teammate Fabio Quartararo achieved the 12th fastest time
The Spanish rider spoke about his first impressions when riding the new bike: ‘I felt quite comfortable with the bike. We split the day in two ways: this morning I just put the set-up of Fabio from the race and it was just laps, laps, laps to understand the bike, to find the position with the handlebars, the footrest and everything. And then in the afternoon we focused a lot in making laps, testing the new fairing. Yamaha brought two different fairing and as far as I know the bike, one of the two fairings works better than the standard one. I was quite happy with the test’.
According to Rins, his initial impressions are that the Yamaha YZR-M1 is a smooth bike: ‘I felt the bike quite smooth, honestly – more than I was expecting in terms of throttle. We still need to adapt the electronic side to my riding style and to my throttle management. But I’ve felt quite… not lazy, but not aggressive. It’s normal’.
Asked if the popular expectations about the Yamaha being a bike that fits particularly well with his riding style are confirmed, rider #42 replied: ‘I think right now the difference between the V4 engine and the four inline it’s not the biggest difference on the bike. Right now the biggest difference is the aerodynamics. It makes you turn better, honestly, because with my experience with other bikes, or for example with Yamaha today… this morning I was riding with the standard fairing and with the wind conditions I had a lot of wheelie and going into the corners the bike was turning good. But I was just complaining about the wheelie. And when we tried the different fairing I felt less wheelie and more turning. So I think now the difference between engines disappears’.