Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales both tested Ohlins’ carbon forks at Brno yesterday but have drawn different opinions on them.

Rossi is all for them but his Spanish counterpart is not so sure and didn’t have the desired effect. However, Vinales is happy with improvements made to electronics and the new aero package got a thumbs up all round.

“Between all the things we tried, we tried the fairing that was good. I have a good feeling, but that depends on the track, I don’t think that for example at a track like Austria this fairing will be very important. I’m happy. I like the fork, because it helps in the change of direction and the bike is easier and lighter, so it’s a good option,” said Rossi.

Vinales added: “We tried many things with the electronics that we improved, so I’m quite happy. The carbon front forks from Öhlins feel much lighter, but anyway the effect wasn’t the one we wanted. We’ll try it again in Austria and let’s see how we do there.”

The new forks, which feature carbon tubes for weight loss, have been available to all teams for the whole season but it has only been Ducati that have taken them up. For reasons best known to himself, Andrea Dovizioso didn’t want to talk about them.

Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa tried them for the first time this weekend and raced with them on Sunday. “I put it on at the weekend. To be honest, the difference is not great. It is lighter, but the machine also moves more. But in the race it had a positive effect,” said Marquez.