fabio quartararo did not score the slightest point at Buriram but he is not the only one to have suffered at Yamaha. Whether Franco Morbidelli saved the three points for 13th place, a modest performance even though the Italian has only done better twice this year, he was limited by the performance of his bike in the final laps. While he was ninth halfway through the race and on track to equal his best result of the season, already achieved in the rain at Mandalika, he lost four positions at the end of the race.
“I was able to find rhythm with my package and I was quite fast”explained the 2020 Vice-Champion to the official MotoGP website. “But when I was catching other bikes I couldn’t overtake and I couldn’t do more. I had to back up [dans le classement] and see the arrival. Our weak point cost us a lot in the wet, but also in the dry, there is no big difference.”
This weak point was the rise in temperature of the front rubber, and therefore of its pressure, making the bike difficult to handle. “J’I was able to get some pace and I wasn’t bad but the front tire pressure was very high and the tire performance was very poor.”summarized Morbidelli during his meeting with the press. “When I got close to other bikes it was difficult to pass them. I still managed to get back on the group that went from sixth to ninth place but when I got close the front tire still empire.”
“It was not Yamaha’s day”
Franco Morbidelli is not the only one to have been affected by this uncontrollable increase in front tire pressure. Cal Crutchlow experienced the same problem on the machine of the RNF team and while he had impressed by scoring points in the first two races since his return to competition, this time he saw the finish in a distant 19th position.
“As you have seen, it has been a tough race for Yamaha.”said the Englishman, who believes Quartararo was hit with the same concern: “Fabio, Darryn [Binder] and I seem to have had similar issues with the front tire pressure which was getting hot right away. Already in the warm-up lap my tire was at the pressure it should have been at halfway or if I had been in a fight. I already knew it would be complicated but it’s a shame because in the dry we had a good pace this weekend, Fabio too but our problems were amplified in the wet.
Cal Crutchlow
“I expected a lot more but as you saw it was not Yamaha’s day”summed up Crutchlow. “I couldn’t take the corners, the front tire pressure was too high. I overtook Fabio because I thought I could get a point but when we got closer to the front group the tire pressure got so high. … Already in the first round.”
On the other RNF team machine, Darryn Binder did not describe a tire pressure problem strictly speaking but also quickly felt a limit in his performance and was not able to fight with the pilots around him. The South African only finished 21st and only edged out Tetsuta Nagashima, who was making his second MotoGP start, and Luca Marinislowed by a fall.
“It’s always difficult to arrive in a race without having done a single lap in the rain on a track”underlined the South African. “It’s very weird because I felt very good in the first five laps, I started to gain a few places. I felt that I was getting faster and faster and it’s like I found myself in a dead end, I started to struggle and it stayed that way for the rest of the race. I just drove to see the checkered flag.”
“We have to get over that. It’s very disappointing to start a race thinking you have a chance and things turn around and you ride behind. I’m a bit disappointed but regardless it’s very difficult when you have no knowledge of a track in the rain. I will try again in the next race.”
With Charlotte Guerdoux