The new year is almost one month old and every fan enthusiast is looking forward to the 2016 Moto GP season.
Valentino Rossi(46) and Jorge Lorenzo(99) with their 2016 Moto GP bikes
The new year is almost one month old and every fan enthusiast is looking forward to the 2016 Moto GP season. The riders and teams are getting ready for the year and gradually we are getting to know which team stands where in terms of sheer race speed. The Yamaha team has been slightly slow on the top speed and Valentino Rossi wants that gap to be plugged. We will try to have a little bit more top speed on the straights, because last year this was the only place where we suffered,” said the Italian during Yamaha’s 2016 bike launch in Barcelona.
“The feeling with the front tyre is still a problem, because the Michelins are very different compared to the Bridgestone, especially about the setting,” said the 36-year-old. Like we saw in the past, when we went from Michelin to Bridgestone [in 2008], we modified the setting very much and we needed a bit of time to arrive at the right balance. It will be important, this work – to try to understand how to best use the Michelin tyre and how to improve the feeling with the front. Last year our bike was very good with Bridgestone, and was the best balanced bike. Now it will be hard work to make the same with Michelin.”
Lorenzo also echoed calls made by Rossi for Yamaha to improve its top speed, while also pressing for his team to make rapid progress adapting to the new control electronic software.
Jorge Loreno: 2015 Moto GP Champion
“The bike itself was very complete [last year]; maybe we need a bit more power, because on longer straights we lose a little bit,” he added. The tyres I don’t think will be a big problem, apart from [having to be] a bit careful on the front, and Michelin will give us a grippier tyre at the front [during the season]. We asked Michelin to improve the front tyre a bit, but also Yamaha to investigate how to create electronics that are close as possible to what we had last year.”