Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Focuses on Development on Opening Day in Jerez
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP dedicated Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix to extensive testing work, as both riders evaluated new components despite results not fully reflecting the progress made.
GRAND PRIX OF SPAIN
PRACTICE
18th
TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 1'36.864 / 31 LAPS
20th
JACK MILLER 1'36.997 / 42 LAPS
It was another intensive day of work for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP on the opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, with the focus firmly placed on development as the team introduced a range of new engine and chassis components brought from Japan.
Some of the updates showed clear signs of improvement and offer promising direction for future development, while others did not deliver the expected results. The engineers will now analyse the data in detail to understand the discrepancies, especially as certain parts had shown positive feedback during recent testing. As a result, Saturday will remain focused on refining the package, with Monday’s official test already shaping up to be a key opportunity to continue this work.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu completed 31 laps and finished the day in 18th position, narrowly missing the opportunity to place himself higher up the standings. The Turkish rider focused on understanding the new components and continuing his adaptation process, making the most of the available track time despite not finding the final step needed for a stronger result.
Jack Miller, who completed 42 laps, also dedicated his day to gathering valuable data and evaluating the updates, ending the session in 20th position. Like his teammate, the Australian was unable to extract the lap time needed to improve his standing, but contributed important feedback for the ongoing development work.
This means both riders will have to go through Q1 on Saturday morning, aiming to secure a place in Q2 as the weekend continues.
TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider
As always, I’m pushing my best and trying to ride at the limit, but today we had a couple of issues — especially with the bike not turning as well as we’d like and a lack of grip. If we can improve these areas, I think we can find a bit more lap time tomorrow.
I can see some progress compared to the last races, but honestly I’m still not happy because our position is quite far from where I want to be. I know this is a learning season for me and the bike is still at the beginning of its development, but sometimes it’s not easy to stay fully positive. Still, we keep working and I will give my best again tomorrow.
JACK MILLER Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Rider
It was a decent first day. We just missed a little bit at the end and didn’t manage to put a clean lap together, which cost us some positions. We completed a lot of laps and worked through quite a few things, including trying a slightly different chassis, which I was happy with.
I think there was a few tenths in it if we had managed to hook up the lap, but I made a couple of small mistakes and we weren’t able to do it. We also struggled a bit with top speed today — we were using an older engine that’s near the end of its life, so we couldn’t extract much more from it. We should have a fresh one tomorrow, which should help.
Overall, the pace is not too bad and the bike is holding the line well, especially in the faster corners. We’ve done a lot of work today, and now we’ll see what we can improve for tomorrow.
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider