Maverick Viñales & Aleix Espargaro continue evaluation work at Sepang

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR has spent the second day of MotoGP™ testing at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia evaluating several new parts and settings from the R&D department in Hamamatsu, Japan.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales focused mainly on supporting engineers to better set up the new electronics, while late in the afternoon introduced the brand new 2016 GSX-RR, equipped with the new chassis. Both riders reported constant improvements and appeared satisfied with the new material introduced by the Factory.

Viñales, who finished the day in 11th with a time of 2m01.421s, had the opportunity to test with the new soft tyre, while Espargaro (16th with 2:02.092) couldn’t due to a problem on the track to another rider that forced him to lap only with a hard tyre. This was also one of the reasons why his best lap today was in the lower part of the classification.

Maverick Viñales:
Best lap: 2m01.421s.
“To me it’s been a positive day, we tested so much with the new electronics and I also had the chance to try the new chassis. We did a positive job, although I still feel a lack of confidence from the rear. I still feel the rear tyre spinning a lot so we have to better understand this issue. We are very competitive on tracks with very grippy tarmac, but when we come to circuits like this or Austin and Argentina, where there is much less grip, we suffer this traction issue. I got very good sensations from the new engine, its power has increased, but the delivery is smooth and manageable. We improved a lot in the electronics today, but we still need to investigate, it gives us many options but we have to understand how to manage them. Apparently we won’t get soft tyres tomorrow so we will probably focus more and more to find a better confidence and set-up for the hard tyre, so that we create a consistent database of information.”

Aleix Espargaro:
Best lap: 2’02.092s.
“Today has been a very complicated day, the morning went pretty fast without being able to do much work: I had issues with the engine at the very beginning of the day and then when I switched to the second machine, an accident happened and the track was red-flagged. After Baz’s crash we couldn’t use the soft tyre, therefore we focused the whole day working with the hard tyre to better understand it. Then in the afternoon we had some issues with the electronics, of course it’s pretty normal that we had to make several attempts as it is brand new. At the end of the day I can count only few clean and positive laps in the whole day, for my satisfaction I would have hoped for something better but we have to consider that this is what tests are meant for. We have to stay focused and stick to our plans, I know the team has already planned further steps for tomorrow and my desire is only to continue working with them. I could make a few laps with new chassis and swingarm at the end of the afternoon and I got some positive impressions, which I’m curious to try again tomorrow.”

Source: Suzuki