MotoGP Jerez Test Results: Maverick Vinales tops the test, again

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 EMR Writer

The testing champion returns victorious once again.

Maverick Vinales finished the Jerez test in first place today clocking in a huge 101 laps on the Yamaha beating Alex Rins by a tiny 0.034 as he and Joan Mir occupy the second and third-placed slots, Suzuki have spent today testing their 2022 engine prototype along with some settings and areas which they can improve on in the upcoming races to ensure they once again arrive at the front following two straight crashes from Alex Rins in Portimao and Jerez.

Suzuki last tested their 2022 parts in Qatar and were unfortunately unable to utilise day 5 of the test to gather more data which is why they have made this a priority here in Jerez.

Honda are testing bits and pieces of everything at the moment with Nakagami switching between the 2020 and 2019 Honda’s over the Jerez weekend, Marc Marquez running the 2020 and 2021 chassis’ and various parts, Pol Espargaro riding something different and Alex Marquez focusing on keeping it upright. Pol Espargaro has vented frustrations at Honda asking why all four riders are using completely different machinery and not the same, he made some very good points stating that he was completely alone with the data he is making and has nothing to compare it against due to the other riders running different parts. He said he feels lost and he doesn’t know if it’s him or the bike, if there’s anything we can clearly see it’s that Honda need some consistency. Espargaro finished in P6 completing 89 laps behind Nakagami who placed P4. Marc Marquez completed 7 laps before calling it a day due to neck pain in P16 behind brother Alex in P15.

Honda were spotted running a new fairing, very similar to the air intake we have seen used by Yamaha and Ducati as you can see below.

Another rider who was forced to call it a day early was Aleix Espargaro, the Spanish rider crashed on oil spilt by Maverick Vinales and decided that continuing wasn’t worth it given that there are murmurs of arm pump problems for the Aprilia man.

Fabio Quartararo was forced to miss the test after struggling with arm pump in yesterdays race, instead he has gone to seek medical advice about his arm pump and may be going under the knife a second time after previously being operated on for arm pump in 2019.

Full results –