MotoGP rider Jonas Folger has ditched the new chassis he tested at Brno and Austria for the British Grand Prix, having found its performance to be too inconsistent from track to track.
Yamaha passed over a 2017 version of the M1 chassis to the Tech3 team at the post-Czech Grand Prix test at Brno earlier in the month.
While the new chassis offered better turning performance, Folger felt it did not work as well under braking. He tried it on the Friday of the Red Bull Ring race, but reverted back to his original frame after the new one performed poorly at the Austrian track.
The German did not have much track time on Friday at Silverstone due to a nasty stomach virus. Unable to truly test the new frame again as a result, he felt it best to focus his efforts on the chassis he was more comfortable with.
“Yesterday we sorted out the chassis,” he said.
“I said (to the team) we are going to stay on the normal one that I’m using from the beginning of the season, so we have no more troubles, trying around, and it’s more easy for me.
“When I tested in Brno it was better (at) turning, but less barking, so at the end I was never sure if it was better or not.
“We tried it here again. I was not really able try because I was not riding fast because of my physical condition, so at the end we say ‘OK, it’s (the old frame) is working, so no more trying around, we have to clear this thing out.’
“We sorted it out and now we have one chassis we can concentrate on our work.”
After struggling during Friday with what doctors in Germany believe is a bad bout of norovirus, Folger feels 10th on the grid in qualifying was the best he could have hoped for.
However, he was pleased with the progress he made with bike set-up today, and is confident of making another step forward ahead of Sunday’s 20-lap race.
“I didn’t make many laps yesterday,” he added.
“(They were) really bad laps, because I had no energy. Really, today was the first day for me, to ride on this track and get confident with the line and to get in with a good flow.
“Today we tried to set up the bike, we went in a good direction. So I think it was the maximum we could do today, and we can do another step tomorrow. I’m very confident.”
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