YRT Completes Day 1 of Official Test in 4th, YART in 6th

With around a month and a half until the Suzuka 8 Hours main event, the second two-day official joint test got started on June 18. In attendance on Day 1 were the Yamaha Racing Team (YRT), and the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team (YART). With temperatures soaring well over 30C in the afternoon, the riders and teams got to work across four hour-long sessions, including one night session.

From YRT, Jack Miller and Andrea Locatelli have already been announced in addition to Katsuyuki Nakasuga, but for this test once again the riders for YRT were Nakasuga and test rider Soichiro Minamimoto. For YART, regular members Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika, and Jason O'Halloran were all in Japan for the test. Both teams tested in the B group.

The previous test was the first time YRT had the chance to ride the new YZF-R1 at Suzuka, and the data they obtained last time was used as a starting point for today's test. The team worked on improving the engine mapping and various areas of the chassis. Different from the last test however, were the track conditions as surface temperatures rose above 60C, allowing for testing in similar conditions to what the race is normally run in. They also worked hard to improve their pit work, so that there would be no mistakes in the main event.

YRT completed 16 laps in the first session, and early on, Minamimoto lapped in the 2'09 range. Then it was Nakasuga's turn, who set a 2'07.434 to be 6th fastest overall and 0.398 seconds behind the fastest team. In the second session, the team compared their two machines back-to-back and set a fastest lap of 2'07.342 to be 5th in Group B. Session 3 saw them improve to 4th thanks to a 2'06.522 lap time, which was 0.5 seconds behind the fastest team in the combined A and B groups.

Tomorrow, the goal for YRT will be to find a base setup to use in the upcoming private test scheduled for July 3-4, in which all three riders will be in attendance, so that they have a good base to start from and can conduct the test smoothly.

YART started the day with runs to re-familiarize themselves with the track, as it was their first time back since their 2nd place finish in last year's 8 Hours. Also, newcomer to the team Jason O'Halloran, who has only ridden at Suzuka a few times several years ago, worked especially hard at getting used to the track's layout, the track conditions and riding the R1.

Meanwhile, Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika, who have more recent experience at Suzuka, concentrated on setting up the bike. In particular, they focused on improving the feeling and grip from the front on corner entry, which they struggled with in last year's race. They made progress but did not feel they were at 100%, so their plan is to continue working on this area tomorrow.

YART's quickest time in the first session was a 2'07.782, which put them 9th fastest in Group B. Their best in the second session was 2'07.253, which was faster than YRT and 3rd in Group B. The team got into the '06 range in the third session with a 2:06.611 to be 6th fastest. In the final night session, they set another '06 lap. So, combining all three sessions and excluding the night session, YART was 6th fastest in the combined A and B groups, 0.589 seconds behind the leader. For the team, the fact that their lap times were similar to YRT's Nakasuga, who tested here last week, was good news. Tomorrow, they will be aiming to make further progress toward improving front feeling and grip on corner entry, which remains an issue.

Tomorrow, session five of the test gets underway for Group B at 9:30 a.m. There will be two sessions for the day of 80 and 90 minutes each.