Jonas Folger and Johann Zarco impressed on their debut for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3, as the rookie proved the class of the four debutants in MotoGP™ and finished the test in P10 and P11 respectively.
Dueling for supremacy throughout the test days, Folger put in 63 laps on day two and reigning Moto2™ Champion Zarco 61 – with laptimes around a second down on P1 pace set by Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and only 0.067 separating the two.
Jonas Folger (P10, day two): "Overall, it was a very successful time for us and we can leave feeling happy about what we achieved. The plan was to carry on from where we finished yesterday which meant that I continued to work a lot on my riding style. We completed many laps and it was a long day but we collected a large quantity of data, which we needed to gather. Also, the Tech3 team and I started to alter the bike slightly to see which direction that we could possibly head towards in the future. I still need to adjust my riding style with regards to running the worn tyres, but on the whole, it was a positive day and I was able to round it off by setting a good lap time. Thanks to the crew for their efforts and I look forward to getting back on my Yamaha in the future."
Johann Zarco (P11, day two): "Today was really positive and I am truly satisfied about the work that we undertook. As soon as we started this morning, I was able to run at a similar pace to yesterday, where I was pushing, so it was good to have a bike that I was comfortable with and that I could be fast on straight away. Every time that I left the pit box, I was stronger and I improved my lap times quite consistently. The Tech3 team did a super job and I was able to adapt my riding style more to suit the Yamaha. I am feeling more confident on the M1 which I am really happy about and a 1’31.0 lap is a great target to achieve, plus I was only one second from the front which is very pleasing and a solid way to close the test."