The pit lane is finally open, if only for some teams – Yamaha and Suzuki in particular- to show off their new paint finishes, and we are starting to take a first look at the new parts that some factories have to test. The new Yamaha livery is difficult to distinguish from last year’s, Yamaha follows the Philosophy “when it’s not broken”. Suzukis has been updated and, in my opinion, improved by a shot of black to highlight the other colors on the bike. The blackboard around the bibs is a kind of relapse, although historically, white numbers on a black background have been used in Class 125.
But since the Test was supposed to start properly on Saturday, the bikes were deployed in the pit lane, which means that we had the chance to try one or two updates. Everyone has their 2021 motorcycles as a basis during the Test (riders usually start the Sepang Test with last year’s motorcycles to get back on the road and remember how the motorcycles felt) and the updated versions.
In front of the Yamaha Monster Energy garage, the mechanics of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli warmed up two Motorcycles, a bike with a Version of the 2022 chassis that debuted at the Misano test last year and a 2021 bike with a white plastic knee pad on a plate bolted to the chassis. The knee pad is available at the request of Fabio Quartararo, who, in 2021, pressed in some places with his knees against the frame and fairing.
“This is something I wanted because – I think it was in Misano – I wanted something for T4 and T10, because these are places where you really use your arms and a few times I pressed the disguise a lot,” said the reigning world champion at the start.
“I asked for something to press on my knee. This is something that we will try during the test to see if it works. I don’t think we will use them on all circuits. Some are not necessary, such as the Sachsenring. This is something to test, because for body fitness I think it will help.”
Since braking is now such an important part of MotoGP, the obvious reason to use it is the counter-arm pump. But Quartararo denied that was the matter. “More in general,” said the Frenchman. “Not really for the arm pump, but for here around the biceps and triceps.”The parts have been added to the 2021 bike for testing in order to keep a basis for adjustments. The golden rule of the technique is to change one Variable at a time. So you add new pieces to a known set to understand what these variables will look like.