In 2018, the Motorland circuit was the site of one of Yamaha’s worst performances in recent years, with Rossi and teammate Maverick Vinales working in eighth and tenth – not just behind Honda and Ducati, but also under Suzuki and Aprilia.
However, the Iwata brand had a much more encouraging start to this year’s event on Friday as Vinales and Rossi finished second and third fastest over the course of the first two sessions, behind a dominant Marc Marquez.
Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, who almost claimed Marquez’s victory last time at Misano, was fourth directly behind the factory pair.
Rossi attributed improvements to the M1’s electronics as well as recently introduced parts like a new exhaust and carbon rocker arm for the recent shape bounce.
“In the last few races, especially in the second half of the season, but already in the first half, we improved the acceleration electronics considerably,” said Rossi.
“Last year the difference to the top bikes was embarrassing when I came out of the corners. Now it doesn’t look like anything special, but [we are] If we only work better, we leave the corners better and are closer to the other manufacturers.
“That is the main thing [reason]and after we, as you know, work with the exhaust, also with a mechanical handle, with the swing arm, etc. I think this is one of the reasons why we are improving. “
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Vinales didn’t ride the latest exhaust or swingarm at Misano, and while he was working on the exhaust on Friday, he continues with the regular swingarm in Aragon.
“I didn’t use the carbon swingarm because the setup is complicated, so I prefer to concentrate on the exhaust,” said the Spaniard. “I don’t want to mix [them]So we will focus on the swing arm in Thailand.
“I don’t care about the position, I just focus on improving and trying things out for the next year.”
Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / LAT Images
Rossi also commented on the departure of Kouichi Tsuji from Yamaha’s motorsport arm, the latest in a series of recent staffing changes aimed at increasing the brand’s competitiveness.
“I have a very good relationship with Tsuji-san because it’s been a long time [we worked together], as early as 2004, “said the Italian.” For me he’s a very good engineer, but for him, for me, his role has not been fantastic for the last few years.
“I think that [change] is good for improving the development of the bicycle. [There are] Arrival of different people who for me are very strong in Yamaha and we need [them]because we’ve always had too much to struggle in recent years.
“But we need time to improve. We’ll see in the future if we’re strong enough to win.”
Additional reporting from Oriol Puigdemont