Sepang MotoGP Test: New fairings: Rossi, Vinales, Marquez, Pedrosa, Crutchlow

Factory MotoGP riders try the new fairing designs from Yamaha and Honda.
Day two of the Sepang test saw no less than five MotoGP riders make their debut with new downforce-generating fairings, from Honda and Yamaha.

This is what Movistar Yamaha riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, plus Honda's Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow had to say about the new devices.

The Yamaha riders were using a modified version of the fairing first seen at November's Valencia test, while the RCV trio were using the new 'hammerhead' design spotted a few days earlier at the private Sepang test.

Maverick Vinales: "Well the new fairing improved on acceleration, the last sector I improved a lot. It's going to be important for tracks like Austria and Le Mans, with a lot of wheelie. But for sure at some other tracks we will not want to use it - maybe like Australia, with a lot of wind - because maybe in some part of the corner it's worst. But as I said, acceleration is also really important."

Valentino Rossi: "I tried the fairing with the aerodynamic and it's good. I like. It's better. Especially what you feel when you try this type of fairing, you feel more front contact. So when you have to ride the bike not straight, and you feel more contact on the front, it's more easy. Also less physical. So this is the way. And I don’t have any negative points."

Marc Marquez: "Of course the main target of the new fairing is the wheelie. Try to stop the wheelie, try to have more downforce. Of course then you lose a little bit of top speed. Braking stability becomes better, but then when you start to go in [to the corner] it looks harder the bike. On the fast corners also it looks a little bit more hard.

"I think with the new fairing we need to find a good bike balance because for one lap I can ride well, fast. But to be consistent I scared a bit that I will overheat the front tyre of something like this."

Cal Crutchlow: It was a lot different to what we were used to, all three of us I think, and our comments seemed pretty similar as well. Sure there are some positives and there's some not really negatives but we have to adjust the bike a lot to it and we didn't.

"[What Marc said about it] is exactly the same as me. I have to watch what I'm saying! Definitely the acceleration and braking was better, but I felt some - not strange feeling with it - but something different to what I was used to and then you're out of your comfort zone a little bit. But we will continue to work with it for sure at some point, I don’t know when, as we have a big list of stuff to do."

Dani Pedrosa: "We have only this spec, but after the first feelings now we have some information so they can work more in that fairing to see if they can keep, or modify, depending on the requests."