Amid the acceleration troubles being faced by Yamaha, Valentino Rossi has called in for more help from its Japanese MotoGP base to push for their championship charge.
Despite the known issues, the two Yamaha riders are seated well in second and third in the riders’ standings with Rossi ahead with 119 points and Maverick Vinales in third with 109. The only issue is that Rossi is 46 behind Honda’s Marc Marquez.
It is a big gap to get ahead of but not impossible. However, the Yamaha riders will need race wins – something which they haven’t had since the 2017 Dutch Grand Prix. One consolation for Yamaha is that they are leading the teams’ standings with 228 points.
The consistent podium results have helped them to build a 14 points advantage over Honda. As the summer break starts, Rossi has asked for more support from Yamaha’s Japan HQ to help them with improvements, especially on the electronics side.
“We work hard in some important areas [in Sachsenring] and I knew that the 17th place in practice was not my place because we tried something to improve the acceleration but it didn’t work,” said Rossi. “The sixth place [in qualifying] was more or less my pace.
“At the end, we found something especially in the balance of the bike that we can arrive in a better way and in fact, me and Maverick we were both strong and are second and third in the championship.
“But we need more help from Japan to improve the electronics system in acceleration. The season is long, I [am] pushing with all my force and I hope for help from Japan. If we compare to the Ducati, our bike especially this year, it is a lot better in the corners.
“We can go faster than them. They have an impressive advantage in acceleration [though], but on a track like this, it [acceleration] is not enough and if I have to say an area where we have to improve our bike, it is clearly acceleration for me.”
Teammate Vinales concurred with Rossi’s sentiments. The Italian still hailed his second place finish in Sachsenring as his ‘best’, which he revealed was made possible after studying all the data from the 2017 race won by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger.
“For me was very important the race of Folger last year,” he said. “First of all, mentally, because I remember I arrive here last year and I was not comfortable with the bike, not strong enough.
“But Folger last year don’t know that it’s a difficult track for the Yamaha, and he did a fantastic race, at the level of Marc, so he stay there in the fight. So I study everything of Folger, all the race, all the lines, in which way he ride the bike, in which way he set the bike.”
He then joked: “I think it’s a good help for me, the race of Folger last year, so I have to give to him the trophy.”
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