The battle for the most well-performing Japanese manufacturer has been resurrected this year. Yamaha and Honda are once again trading blows for the best-performing non-European team, bringing us back to the days of Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez. But for now, the battle is focused between two men, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco.
Interestingly, both men who are leading the charge for their respective teams are not on factory-supported machinery. Jack Miller on the Pramac Yamaha and Zarco on the LCR Honda.
At the Americas GP at COTA, it seems as if Miller has overcome his late-race gremlins to net a P5 finish, a strong finish even given the fact that two crashes ahead of him bolstered his race results.
The fact remains, from the season opener at Buriram, Yamaha has already proven that it made a big leap forward over the winter break. The Australian describes the machinery as having “good bones” while outlining areas for improvement on the package of which still has the outdated inline-four engine as its centrepiece.
“They’ve got all the pieces of the puzzle, they just need time to slot them all together,
“We’re chasing tenths here, not seconds; they’re so close but so far. The hardest ones to find are those last few tenths.”
The former factory Ducati and KTM rider brought along with him a wealth of information and experience from other top contending teams. It is this level of experience on different machinery which proves to be invaluable to the Iwata squad.
Fabio Quartararo, a world champion in his own right, has spent his entire MotoGP tenure on a Yamaha. Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira, both quick riders on their day, are still marred by injuries.
This leaves only one man to lead the Yamaha charge. Miller, who made his premier class debut a decade ago in 2015, finds himself alongside an experienced test rider team with the likes of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both with the same end goal in mind.
