Jonas Folger shrugged off a crash to produce one of the performances of the week at the Phillip Island pre-season test. The German rookie was fourth fastest on Friday despite crashing in the afternoon session and only trailed Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and the two Repsol Hondas.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was within half a second of the outright fastest time but came unstuck when he embarked on a race simulation. Despite his fall, Folger was pleased with the way he recovered to finish the day.
“Today was another good day and we can head home feeling positive for the future and happy about what we accomplished at Phillip Island. This morning, I got straight to work and I was able to cut my lap time further, which was a strong start. After that, the team and I tried a lot of settings on the bike but I was never 100% sure about which direction was the best one to take, despite the rhythm being quite good. Then, I started a race simulation but after three or four laps, I crashed at turn six. I returned to the track on my second bike that had a different setting, and after completing eleven laps or so, my confidence came back and I became faster and faster, which was very important. Now we know which direction we have to head towards and we will try again in Qatar”.
“However, for the moment, we can be fully satisfied about what we completed here because the rhythm was good, the lap time was strong, we tried many options and we sorted a lot of things out, so we can all be really content.”
Team-mate Johann Zarco also impressed, showing promising consistency over longer runs and was unconcerned by finishing fourteenth overall, adding that Phillip Island isn’t among his stronger circuits.
“The third and final day at Phillip Island went smoothly for me and now I am looking forward to the next track appearance in Qatar. Once again, the conditions were clear and sunny, which was good for my confidence and it meant that we could ride uninterrupted. I improved on yesterday’s best time in the morning and then I just kept working and completing laps. In the end, I am pleased about the distance that we covered today. This circuit is not one of my favourites but because of the number of laps which I rode, I am now able to understand the bike better and we can adjust and improve more settings. This is important for the next test because I know that I will be stronger at other venues.”
