Braking stability still a concern for Yamaha

Braking stability is still a key area for Yamaha to improve on its factory YZR-M1 once the new MotoGP world championship campaign gets underway in Qatar on March 23.

Honda has taken a huge step forward with the braking stability on its factory RC213V and improved corner entry performance was high on Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi’s wish list for 2014.

New chassis and revisions to the seamless shift gearbox that Lorenzo and Rossi first raced in Misano last September have not unearthed a significant improvement with braking stability.

And Lorenzo’s factory Yamaha team boss Wilco Zeelenberg told MCN: “It is still difficult. We didn’t seem to suffer so much at Phillip Island because stopping and cornering at the same time is not a big issue there. But also the stopping performance is quite low here whereas in Sepang you arrive from sixth to first gear or second gear with high speeds to very slow corners. You don’t have to stop the bike so much at Phillip Island. I think it is more the behavior of our bike in how it loads the front different to the Honda. That limits us a bit in the areas where you have that situation of braking from a long straight. We can’t do much about that because we have our forces and as long as you don’t get a stronger front tyre to support that force then we have to live with it. That’s why we pushed to have a new front tyre for 2014.”