Quartararo tries swingarm, fender but ‘nothing special’

The aim of the swingarm was to aid rear grip, while the revised fender was designed to aid engine cooling in hot conditions.

Quartararo, who leads the world championship standings by seven points after his close runner-up finish in the Spanish Grand Prix race, described the changes as ‘nothing special’ as he finished the test third fastest.

“We tested front fender, swingarm and the [new larger] 355mm brake disc. We tested the swingarm back to back twice, which takes a lot of time. We also tried the setting of last year here and that's it. Nothing special,” said the reigning world champion.

• Joan Mir was ready to sign at Suzuki - Honda, Yamaha rumours ‘false’ 
• Suzuki leaving MotoGP: Possible scenarios for 2023...
• Dorna ‘reminds’ Suzuki of contract following MotoGP exit rumours

“[The swingarm] looks like it is a little bit better by the numbers [but] the feeling is more-or-less the same. We will start in Le Mans with our standard one, but if we have some doubt about the rear grip it’s something we have in mind to test [again].”

Turning to the fender, Quartararo said it could “maybe have something extra when in really hot conditions. For me there was zero difference [when riding] and it’s more in the data that they have to see if it's better or not.”

“Basically [Yamaha] brought what they can and what they think is good for this year, but I'm still pushing so much to try to get something for the top speed,” Quartararo admitted.

“Because I know that our potential is really good. Also this year, even if we don't make a big step with the bike, I feel I'm riding much better than last year.”

Fairing upgrade last chance for top speed boost?

Quartararo’s best and perhaps only hope of a noticeable top speed difference this season will come in the form of Yamaha’s one allowed fairing upgrade.

To try and improve speed, it is expected that the ‘evo’ version will offer less downforce/drag than the current design with Mugello, following Quartararo’s home French round, tipped as the likely introduction.

“Mugello and Barcelona is going to be really important to have at least 1 or 2 k more, that will make the difference with less aero [downforce],” he said.

Meanwhile, the brake work with the new 355mm discs had been to prepare for their use later in the season.

“We tried for the future in some tracks like Austria,” he said. “Last year we had no problem with the 340mm but we were playing with the limit. I think tracks like Austria, Thailand or Motegi, will be quite demanding for the brake.

“I took a few laps to adapt [to the 355 discs] because the first time you brake is different, but in the end I got used to it and with a tyre of 20 laps I managed to get 1m 37.8. So I adapt quite fast,” he smiled.

Quartararo also completed some practice starts with a modified clutch, but it only confirmed that what he has now is better.

“I had no problem. Lately, my starts are really good, but I wanted to try something with the clutch that I had in mind during the race weekend,” he explained. “I didn't want it to change when I was doing good practice starts, so I waited until the test and basically I tried it and it was worse!

“So now we know and are going back to our standard.”

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli was the next best Yamaha at the test, in 17th place.