Valentino Rossi urges Yamaha to upgrade M1

Valentino Rossi doesn’t believe the introduction of a new seamless shift gearbox will suddenly transform his factory YZR-M1 into a package capable of consistently beating the rival Honda RC213V prototype.

Rossi and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo have piled pressure on Yamaha to introduce a new seamless shift gearbox, which they finally tested during the recent summer break in Brno.

The gearbox though is still not race ready and once again in the Czech Republic today, Rossi and Lorenzo shrugged their shoulders when asked if they had any idea when the new gearbox would be ready for competition.

Honda has been using a seamless shift system since the start of the 2011 campaign and Rossi and Lorenzo say the Yamaha gearbox improves stability of upshifts and makes it easier to run a fast and consistent pace over a full race distance.

But speaking on the eve of this weekend’s Brno race, Rossi said the introduction of a new gearbox wouldn’t completely fix some problems with the factory YZR-M1.
The nine-times world champion said: “The seamless gearbox is very important to try to be faster, especially over the race distance. But also it is not enough and we have to work on the bike because we have some other problems compared to the Honda, which make it difficult for us to keep the pace.  There are two or three details and the seamless is one and we have to continue to work on the M1.”