How many times have you wondered how well a MotoGP rider would fare at another two-wheeled discipline? I used to think about it fairly regularly, but after watching Jack Miller beat off-road legend Toby Price on a motocross track, I began to wonder who the top MotoGP riders on dirt are and just how good they are.
More recently, we saw a two-wheeled version of trading places with Pol Espargaro and Josep Garcia, showing what happens when a MotoGP-level rider hits the dirt on a stock motocross bike, and how an EnduroGP champion fares on a fairly high-spec naked bike around a track.
But Yamaha has taken things a step further.
Yamaha didn't just put 2021 MotoGP World Champion, Fabio Quartararo, and send him out on a track with the 2021 MX2 world Champion, Maxime Renaux; the brand put Quartararo on Renaux's current factory YZ450FM. Quartararo got the full-fat experience of what it's like to ride a motocross bike that's set up to compete at the highest level.
And unsurprisingly, all the suspension, handling, and engine tweaks on Renaux's FIM Motocross World Championship bike, also helped Quartararo to go faster and feel better on the bike. I'm sure this would not have been the case for your average Joe off-road rider.
At the end of the video, Renaux heads off to complete a fast lap. Again, almost as you'd expect, Renaux sets the lap record at the CDG MX Retreat in Spain. But all we want to know is how close Quartararo can get to that time, and this video delivers the answer. Check it out below.
What do you all think about Quartararo's time compared to Renaux's? Is it what you expected or did you think he'd be further off? More importantly, the video leaves us with a teaser about what Yamaha Racing is planning next, whereby Renaux is up against Quartararo on the MotoGP champion's turf. The question is, will they both be on MotoGP machinery? And how far off Quartararo's pace will Renaux be?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
