On Track Off Road No. 188

By David Emmett
There was a lot of work going on
in all of the factory garages and
major components being tested.
There were frames, swingarms,
new aero packages, exhausts. And
that was just the stuff we could
see. Three things caught my attention,
all of them with potential
to have a significant impact.
First, the factory Yamaha garage
seemed extremely busy. There
were a lot of people in the pitbox,
and a lot of work going on behind
screens. Engineers present included
Kazuhisa Takano, the Japanese
technician who worked on the
M1’s chassis during the period
in which Rossi and Lorenzo were
dominating, and who has returned
to MotoGP after playing an important
role in designing Yamaha’s
Leaning Multi-Wheel technology
which formed the basis for the
Niken three-wheeler. Both Viñales
and Rossi were optimistic that the
changes could help immediately,
especially the electronics updates.
Both riders were happy, Petrucci
saying he felt that turning had
improved, while Dovizioso was
happy that corner entry was better.
These are parts which they
could air at Assen and which
could influence the lap-times.
Marc Márquez also had a new
frame to try, which was a small
improvement. But he was wary of
introducing a major chassis update
while he had a comfortable
lead in the championship. Why
risk making a major change when
you’re leading?
Will these updates make a difference
to 2019 MotoGP? If they give
Dovizioso the advantage he has
been asking for, and help put the
Yamahas among the Repsol Honda
pigeons, they just might. Marc
Márquez may have a 37-point lead
but there is still a lot of racing left
to go.
At Ducati, they were working on
turning. Danilo Petrucci had a
lightly modified frame, while Andrea
Dovizioso had a completely
new chassis to test.