{"id":703669,"date":"2026-05-30T05:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703669\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:33:12","slug":"yamahas-mugello-motogp-speed-deficit-had-one-rider-screaming-in-my-helmet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703669\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamaha\u2019s Mugello MotoGP speed deficit had one rider \u2018screaming in my helmet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Rins says he was \u201cscreaming in my helmet\u201d when a Honda eased past him during practice at the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix, as Yamaha\u2019s top speed woes were laid bare.<\/p>\n<p>Mugello\u2019s massive main straight has exposed the top speed deficit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/monster-energy-yamaha-motogp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yamaha<\/a> holds compared to its MotoGP rivals with its new V4 engine.<\/p>\n<p>Fabio Quartararo was over 12km\/h down on Enea Bastianini\u2019s KTM on Friday at the Italian Grand Prix, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/889478\/alex-rins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Rins<\/a> was just over 10km\/h slower through the speed trap.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gng_1317416_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing, 2026 Italian MotoGP\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing, 2026 Italian MotoGP<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>Rins scraped into a direct Q2 spot on Friday, ending the day ninth with a 1m45.149s lap, but admits he struggled to profit from a slipstream on his Yamaha.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I was pushing like hell\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn&#8217;t arrive to the slipstream,\u201d he said when asked if that helped his lap time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, on the first laps of practice, I just go out [as] first rider, exiting the pits, and then Pecco [Bagnaia] and [Marco] Bezzecchi overtook me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt looks like they were racing, and I said, \u2018OK, let&#8217;s see what I can do behind them. I was like with the eyes wide [open].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was pushing like hell, like a time attack. And I was quite surprised by the lap time, the 1m45.7s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I enter in box. I just say, I just express our weak points to the guys.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tried to improve a little bit the cornering of our bike because I was going wide in every corner. And OK, the pace was not so bad. It was like 0.5, 0.7, compared to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then on the time attack, regarding your question of the slipstream, they go really fast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn&#8217;t. I couldn\u2019t\u2026 OK, I take a bit of slipstream, but I could not be in a proper slipstream in the end of the lap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rins had Honda\u2019s Diogo Moreira behind him at one stage on a flying lap, but was unable to keep him behind due to the RC213V\u2019s speed differential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were racing like hell,\u201d Rins added.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFucking Diogo. It&#8217;s funny. I just let pass Pecco and Marc [Marquez] before the red flag.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then he had more engine. He overtook me on the straight. And I was like screaming in the helmet, \u2018No, no, why? Stay behind!\u2019 But yeah, it was quite funny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gng_1317147_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing, 2026 Italian MotoGP\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing, 2026 Italian MotoGP<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>Rins was the standout Yamaha performer on Friday at Mugello, with the next-best M1 Jack Miller in 16th, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/news\/1096370\/1\/worse-i-expected-fabio-quartararo-slow-crash-affected-motogp-practice\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">while Quartararo was 17th after a crash.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite his strong start to the weekend, Rins acknowledges how hard it will be to maintain that form in the races.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe it&#8217;s too early. It&#8217;s too early to express the points where we can improve. Because honestly, I was quite on the limit in every corner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe there are some tracks that we are able to go a little bit faster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike, for example, here, I was able to jump to Q2. In Barcelona, Miller and Fabio, they were able to jump in Q2.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Texas, Toprak, he was able to go in. I mean, guys, we are like super professional, super talented riders.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo thanks to this, we are able maybe to find one lap. But then in the race pace, it is what it is. In a 40-minute race, everything is tougher, the tyre gets hot, there\u2019s the drop [of the tyre].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Rins says he was \u201cscreaming in my helmet\u201d when a Honda eased past him during practice at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[40457,64,63,10671,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-703669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-alex-rins","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-monster-energy-yamaha-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}