Barcelona MotoGP upgrades highlight philosophy differences at Yamaha and Honda

The championship’s two Japanese manufacturers have been working hard over the last few months to close the gap to their European rivals and return to the forefront after years of decline.

Both have been taking advantage of the new concession system introduced by MotoGP this year by holding a number of private tests, but there appears to be a stark difference in how quickly the new parts actually make it to the race bikes.

Yamaha, having successfully convinced Fabio Quartararo to keep his faith in the marque for another two years, is not only trialling new updates, but is also introducing them on race weekends at an impressive pace.

After running a completely new version of the M1 at the post-Spanish Grand Prix test at Jerez, the Iwata-based brand completed further private running at Mugello in the weeks leading up to the Barcelona round of the championship.

With the test being considered a positive, Yamaha has homologated the new aero package, which will now be seen on the bikes of Quartararo and Alex Rins at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this weekend.

Speaking about the upgrades, Quartararo said: “[The test] was great because we could analyse quite well where the main priority is to test and to improve for us from now until the end of the season. So this is great.

“We don’t know how we’re going to improve it, but we know where it is. And then we used the new aero package that was better for Cal, better for me and better for Alex. So, we will use it during this weekend.”

Interestingly, Yamaha is fast-tracking updates even if they are only offering a marginal difference in performance or the feeling of the bike. That suggests it wants to continue to bring in small improvements on a regular basis, instead of waiting for a bigger package to be ready for race conditions.

Asked how good the new aero package was, Quartararo added: “Little bit helping on turning. That was of course not a big difference, but whatever we can slightly improve, we do and it was slightly better in the lean angle, in the amount of lean angle we could have.”

Like Yamaha, Honda has also been working behind-the-scenes on improving the aero, chassis and the engine of the beleaguered RC213V, having held a private test of its own at Mugello in the run-up to Barcelona.

But unlike its rival, Honda is not rushing to introduce the updates on the bikes raced by factory duo