During the night, Lin Yan made his way to the pit room. Yan Xiaoqiang and Zhang Ningyu were also there. As Ducati, who was not short on money, always had at least four simulators available for riders to train, but by the time Lin Yan arrived, they were all occupied. It was Rins who gave up his spot for Lin Yan.
Because it was a night race, the track temperature in Qatar this year would be very low, which was not very friendly to the tires.
Lin Yan felt it on the simulator; the bike's lean angle couldn't be too low.
This was a unique characteristic of Qatar, the low temperature at night.
"Are the new bikes still adapting well?"
While practicing, Lin Yan chatted with the others nearby. This year, in addition to the factory bikes being upgraded, the smaller displacement bikes had also undergone targeted optimization.
"Adapting."
Yan Xiaoqiang and Zhang Ningyu both nodded. With Zhang Mingzhi and Matt around, it was hard for their bikes not to adapt. Tuning factory bikes might take a lot of time, but for Matt, optimizing the smaller displacement bikes was a breeze.
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The next morning at nine o'clock, under the scorching sun,
Even though it was hot and sweaty under his helmet, Lin Yan had to maintain his pose, otherwise, he would lose face with the global broadcast.
Behind Lin Yan were Reissner, Qiao Hai, and last year's fourth-place finisher, Suzuki rider Gerriwell. A total of thirty-one riders were arranged in a triangular formation, with Lin Yan at the arrowhead.
Gna, being a rookie, was at the back.
In front of the riders, in order, were the band, race officials, and
It was clear that all the factory teams had experienced being blown away in the straights by the GP22 last year.
Based on the data, Honda's engine power this year was on par with the GP23. Hao Dong was not too worried about this, as the GP22 didn't just rely on horsepower for straight-line speed. As for horsepower, the neighboring KTM
However, Hao Dong had a small complaint about the new factory bike: the two small wings at the rear of Lin Yan's bike really looked like "ghost fire."
Compared to Ducati, Honda, which was originally considered wealthy, had been completely outdone. However, they had also upgraded many things this year, essentially replacing their bikes. The sole purpose of doing so much was to overtake Ducati on the straights.
Whether they could achieve it or not... remained to be seen in the actual race.
Although Honda's racing division's R&D expenses were not as high as Lin Yan's team, they had a solid foundation in R&D. They had achieved quite good results in this year's bike development. The actual performance of the bikes would be seen in the first qualifying session of the season.
At twelve o'clock sharp, the green flag waved on the track, and the qualifying session officially began.
Lin Yan was the first to emerge from the pit room. As soon as the red GP23 was unveiled, the audience erupted in cheers, with red flags waving wildly. At least half of the fans at the venue were Lin Yan's supporters, and their momentum could even rival that of the king of horses and Rossi in their prime.
The audience at the venue had already reached nearly 500,000, and the stands were already showing signs of being overcrowded. Under pressure, the race organizers had to add small stools in the aisles of each grandstand.
Last year's Laureus Award had significantly boosted the popularity of this year's race, and all of this was thanks to Lin Yan.