MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of #QatarTest

MotoGP Rider Quotes & Images

#QatarTest 2018 Day One

Maverick Viñales – P1

“We had no confidence to push in Thailand. Today it looks like we improved in that area. In the beginning I didn’t feel well with the bike, but after trying some set-ups we felt better and I could push the front more, and step-by-step the lap times became lower. We are trying to make the bike the best we can. I started to feel better and better every time I exited pit lane today. On the last run I was doing many laps, focusing on my riding style and it looks to be going well. The bike is very consistent and I was able to ride well, but we still need to work on the corner speed, turning and acceleration, so we need to stay focused and keep working. Anyway, in the area that we wanted to improve, we improved – that’s positive.”

Andrea Dovizioso – P2

“For me today was a positive day. We did several important tests with the fairings and then we focused on the set-up, but the track conditions weren’t ideal because there wasn’t much grip. All in all the lap times came quite easily but we’ve still got a lot of work to do and, even though my feeling with the bike is good, now we still have to fine-tune it for the race.”

Andrea Dovizioso - #QatarTest 2018 — Andrea Dovizioso – #QatarTest 2018

Andrea Iannone – P3

“We have started this test very well and the feeling with the bike is very good, especially the front end. In the other tests I struggled a lot with the front end feel, but here I have a very good feeling and it was possible to push really hard. Furthermore I could find a good feeling with the new tyres, something I was lacking in previous tests. The bike was cornering really well. So I’m very happy and we worked very well. It’s important to keep working and improving on general feeling, especially focusing on change of direction under braking.”

Andrea Iannone - #QatarTest 2018 — Andrea Iannone – #QatarTest 2018

Johann Zarco – P4

“For the first day in Qatar, I was waiting to go out on the track in order to find better conditions, but even when I went out around 4 this afternoon, it was very slippery and we were struggling a bit and honestly, went in a wrong direction. But we understood quickly that we had to come back to what we know with better tyres. I rapidly found a decent pace, although it was complicated because the rear tyre dropped a lot compared to the last track we were on, so we really have to adapt the riding in the first laps and then still keep a fast speed when the tyre is sliding. But overall, it seems like we’re competitive, which is the main thing and good for the confidence. Tomorrow we’ll use this great base again, which we found on the first day and try to improve it.”

Jorge Lorenzo – P5

“This first day of testing in Qatar went quite well and in general I had a good feeling with my bike, for sure much better than in Thailand. We also managed to set a good time, but we still have to work on our pace and this will be our objective for tomorrow. We have to make the most of the day to improve the bike setting and be more consistent.”

Alex Rins – P6

“Here it’s different to Malaysia or Thailand. The track is very different with slower corners, not as fast and much longer, but despite the differences we still feel confident. This morning we started by testing some items because we needed to make some back-to-back comparisons in order to make our final decisions. We worked on chassis and suspension and defined the final version of the fairing. The package should now be defined and my feeling is very positive, now we can start to work on race preparation with the knowledge that the base we have is a positive one.”

Valentino Rossi – P7

“It was not so bad, the first day was quite good. We are always very close to the other riders and in the end I’m in seventh position. It’s not fantastic, but at this track I feel better. Right from the first moment, I felt better compared to how I felt in Thailand. I think I was quite competitive in Sepang, we had some more problems in Thailand, and here in Qatar the situation is more similar to Sepang, fortunately. It looks like also this year things can change quite a lot from one track to another, because it depends a lot on how you can make the tyres work for you. Sometimes you have to suffer, other times you’ll be stronger.”

Danilo Petrucci – P8

“I was quick from the start and it was important to get started right away. I’m really happy with the behaviour of my bike because we’ve changed little since the Malaysia and Thailand testing. Tomorrow we will be working on the new fairings. We just have to understand which set up to choose, then on the third day we will make the race simulation”.

Cal Crutchlow – P9

“I’m very happy with today’s test, I feel good on the bike and the team worked well. It’s tricky out here on the track in the night sometimes, but it seemed in not too bad condition today. We got through our testing schedule for the day and we’re very happy with the way it went. So far, so good. We have a plan tomorrow to work through some different settings with the bike because essentially it’s the same bike as last year, it just has a different engine. So we have to try and make the best package possible. Today we went out only when it was dark, but tomorrow maybe we’ll try during the day.”

Cal Crutchlow was the quickest Honda at #QatarTest Day One

Marc Marquez – P10

“Today we started our test in Qatar looking to find a base setup and focusing on electronics. The engine was a bit aggressive at first, but in the end we managed to find a way to improve the setting and be smoother. We need to improve some more, but it was good for it being the first day, and now we have two more sessions to keep working and try to be as consistent here as we were at the previous tests. We know that this track is a bit more challenging for us compared to others, but I enjoy it and we’re not that far off. Tomorrow we’ll start to go deeper on a few details.”

Dani Pedrosa – P11

“We started the day well and did several good runs, considering that the track is always a bit dirty here the first day. Unfortunately, I first had a small crash that might have been my fault, and a few laps later I had another, bigger one, in turn 2. I may have hit a bump there or went a bit off line, I don’t know; for sure that spot is quite tricky, and I lost the front very quickly. After that we decided to stop for the day. Apart from that, the feeling on the bike was quite good and we were able to keep a good rhythm. Tomorrow we’ll keep working on the bike’s setting and see how the track improves and which tyres we’ll use. This track is challenging, as conditions change from day to day, and also the temperature drops quite a lot when evening falls. We’ll need to do more laps to try and better figure out the general setup before going into more detailed testing.”

Jack Miller – P12

“The circuit conditions, especially in the first part of the test, were little bit tricky. I have to admit, however, that even today the feelings have been positive. We are improving day after day and I think we can improve a lot. There are still some points on the track where I struggle a bit. We will work on it tomorrow. But in the meantime we are only 6-tenths from the top”.

Álvaro Bautista – P13

“Our objective today was just to see how the bike worked here, because in Thailand we found some good and some bad. Here we struggled to get going, the rear was not gripping at all in corner entry or exit. We tried some changes on the bike but that made no difference, so we changed the tyre and it seems this was the issue. We continued to work on improving the rear grip and made gradual progress. I am happy because our pace on used tyres is good and I used them to set my best time. We have to keep working on rear grip and the electronics, but in terms of the lap time everybody is very close.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P14

“By the end of the day we were improving lap times, we did a 55 which I think is quite a good lap time. But we struggled a little bit all day compared to Malaysia and Thailand, here it is a little bit tricky and there are many places where it’s hard to ride a MotoGP bike. But this is only the first day and I think I need a bit more time and some more laps to understand the line and where to pick up the bike. Also, we’re still struggling a bit on the electronic side set-up, so we’ll focus on that and look to improve. But I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Scott Redding – P15

“I’m happy with how we started these three days. After the tests in Thailand I wanted to improve especially the braking phase, because I felt that the area was limiting me, and we managed to take a step forward. We haven’t tested many new parts but we have identified a good direction to work on in the coming days. As I have always said, my goal is not to do a quick lap but to constantly reduce the gap with the best, the most important thing is to get ready in the race where you earn points”.

Tito Rabat – P16

“At the end of the day I think it was a very positive first day. When we started the track it was very dirty and everything was horrible, that’s why we decided to stop for a while. But then we went out in track and working with my team we improved the feelings and we finished the day with a really fast rhythm. I’m very happy about that, but not so much with my fastest lap time, because although it’s not bad I sure that I’m able to do it better. For tomorrow the goal will be to faster in one lap and the also to improve the pace. The only negative from today was a small crash when I was braking with the bike straight, but we know why it happened.”

Aleix Espargaro – P17

“Here in Qatar I immediately found a better feeling than Thailand, we struggled a bit in the last part of the session but I’m quite satisfied with this first day. We did a shakedown of the second RS-GP 2018 that we received and did some setting tests, to be ready to push tomorrow. On this track we know that there is a lot of difference between the fastest lap and the race pace, so we will work above all to find the right compromise between performance and consistency”.

Karel Abraham – P18

“Today was not a bad day but definitely not one of our best so far. We had a lot of things to work on and especially in the beginning I didn’t feel great on the bike. But we made some improvements and we could see the lap time get better. There are plenty of things for us to work on tomorrow to improve it again but I think we are in good shape at the moment. We might do a long run tomorrow, this is one of the things we need to focus on, and after the debrief tonight we will make a plan for some different set-up options that we’d like to try.”

Franco Morbidelli – P21

“We started here in Qatar pretty much where we finished last time out in Buriram. The track conditions have certainly helped because for some reason it’s not as dirty as it normally is when we come here for testing, so we’ve been able to start work straight away, rather than having to wait for the track to clean up. Today has been about getting used to the bike at this track and then making small changes to both the bike and my riding style to improve the lap time. The main area of interest is corner exit, using maximum acceleration out of the corners because we’re not able to do this at the moment. I need to adapt my riding style to make the most of the rear grip available and that’s what I am working on with my crew.”

Hafizh Syahrin – P22

“During this first day in Qatar I felt very good. We had a lot of confidence from the beginning. Later tonight, I experienced some minor issues, but after just some minutes, my great feeling was back. We tried to understand the new aerodynamics and by the end, I was able to give the guys some good feedback. I feel like I can improve even more, but we are trying everything step by step in order to avoid any obstacles, because if you’re going too quick too fast you can easily be confused. Today, I was smooth and calm, and I’m happy, that I can say, I already understand the bike now. For the second day, we’ll experiment further to make more progress.”

Tom Lüthi – P23

“I was quite surprised there wasn’t sand on the track like there has been in the past. There is no rubber yet either, so grip is still limited, but at least we could start working with the bike from the off. Right now I’m still working on my riding style, still working on the lines, but we’ve also started to adapt the set up a little bit more so I feel more comfortable on the bike. In MotoGP you have to move around the bike much more than in Moto2. In Moto2 it was more about aerodynamics, whereas in MotoGP it is about using your weight on the bike, getting it over the front to stop the front wheel coming up under acceleration. I’m still at the beginning of my MotoGP adventure and I still have a lot to learn but, step-by-step, we’re moving forward and this is the most important thing.”

Xavier Simeon – P24

“Today I’ve started more calmly than the first day in Thailand. I didn’t go as well as I wanted to, especially because in the first laps it took me a lot of time to find enough confidence with the front tyre. The track was dirty, but less than the previous years here, so in that sense this was quite good. But I have the same problem as in Thailand; with used tyres I can make pretty decent times, but when I put new tyres I can’t take the best of them. The other riders take much more advantage so it’s clear that I have to work a lot in this area take bigger steps, because looking at the rhythm I’m not so far.”

Massimo Meregalli – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Team Director

“It has been a long day’s work, but the results are there. After a difficult test in Thailand we wanted to start this test in the right way, especially since we’ll kick off the season here in Qatar in a few weeks’ time. Both riders felt better on the bike than they did in Buriram, right from the start of today’s session. The base set-up worked well as soon as we got going and we could get good speed and consistency throughout the day. As always, we think we still have some room for improvement in terms of the chassis and the electronics settings. Maverick leading the standings and Valentino also near the top of the timesheets is a positive beginning.”

Yamaha men a bit happier in Qatar than they had been in Thailand - #QatarTest 2018 — Yamaha men a bit happier in Qatar than they had been in Thailand – #QatarTest 2018

Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager

“Today has been a hard working day, we continued with the work we made in Sepang and Buriram. Because we already defined the package that we’re going to use for the race, but there are still some details which we are trying to confirm. For instance, we tested the aerodynamic fairing, and we are looking for the final confirmations here in Qatar. We already have an idea of what is good or not so good, but we wanted to make sure once again at another circuit. Tomorrow we will try to finish this work as soon as possible and begin to prepare for the race. Both riders were fast today, and that’s a good sign, but we’ll continue to work for the race.”