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While the Marquez brothers were dictating the pace with Alex ahead of Marc, the first day of real action at the Buriram circuit saw Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha defend itself very well thanks to a third place in Free Practice 1 and an eighth that bodes well for pre-qualifying.
"It was a good day, with certainly better sensations than those felt in testing, although I am still not 100 percent comfortable with the front. Our goal was to get into Q2 and we did it with a gap of just two tenths from third place, so all is well," the Frenchman said after the session.
Hitting the top 10 in the first session that counts, however, is not a new ambition for him. "It was already what we were aiming for in 2024. In last season's finale we always succeeded, but to make it as early as Friday afternoon is even more important as the track conditions are not optimal although improving. Usually when we reach the opening Q2 on Saturday we are always able to make some progress, so hopefully that will be the case tomorrow as well," he pointed out.
After the concerns he had at the last winter test about the response of the front tire, El Diablo was able to smile at least partially. "We haven't changed anything, but with the soft compound I felt better right away, while the hard one behaved the same way as in the tests. So it won't be very easy in qualifying because the time is made by making the most of the front and we can't do that. We'll see, however we did a good job today," he remarked.
Turning to possible insights to improve the starting phase, the rider from Nice was realistic. "We don't have much room to move, our bike touches everywhere, maybe only the electronics could give us a hand, but sometimes it's better stability than making changes for minimal benefit. In my opinion we are off to a good start now even if others are better off," he analyzed.
At the end of the afternoon session there was a moment of impasse. "I was out of fuel, however, it is not the team's fault. We planned to do three laps and instead, I completed one more, as well as doing the start simulations. At the end I tried to slow down, but I still couldn't make it back to the pit," he revealed.
Then, a brief comment on the engine. "Last year our engine was slow, but now we have taken a step forward, but we need to increase the power because even with less aerodynamics than the competition we remain weak in this respect. Maybe in the Jerez tests we will try something new," he concluded.
Fifteenth and then seventeenth in the group, Alex Rins did not flunk on his first approach to the track either. "Today we worked well although I couldn't do a decent lap because when I was on a 1'29"7 they showed the yellow flags and in the last attempt I went wide at turns 10 and 11 - were the words of the Spaniard - Overall 1'29"9 is still acceptable. Unfortunately in the afternoon I struggled with the new rear. I didn't have grip and traction and as soon as I switched to the medium I lowered my time by seven tenths. It is strange, so I called the Michelin technicians to analyze the problem and now they are talking with the team engineers. Otherwise, it's positive that there is a Yamaha in the top 10. All of us riders in the brand are going in the same direction, so we will see solutions tomorrow to improve a little bit at the electronics level. The heat definitely played a part, because in testing the temperatures had been different."
