RAIN STOPS PLAY IN SEPANG BUT SUZUKI REMAINS UPBEAT

RAIN STOPS PLAY IN SEPANG BUT SUZUKI REMAINS UPBEAT. The second day of testing at the Sepang International Circuit saw the familiar late afternoon rain storms arrive, cutting short the riders’ track time. However, Team Suzuki Ecstar still managed to carry out the majority of their testing plan.

Suzuki Racing

MotoGP

RAIN STOPS PLAY IN SEPANG BUT SUZUKI REMAINS UPBEAT


Team Suzuki Press Office – February 6.

Alex Rins: 4th – 1’58.261 (+ 0.130)
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’58.529 (+ 0.398)
Sylvain Guintoli: 26th – 1’59.996 (+ 1.865)

The second day of testing at the Sepang International Circuit saw the familiar late afternoon rain storms arrive, cutting short the riders’ track time. However, Team Suzuki Ecstar still managed to carry out the majority of their testing plan.

One of the main areas of focus for both Joan Mir and Alex Rins was the cowlings. Then each rider took their own path to fine-tune other things; Mir working on the swingarm and Rins on the suspensions. Neither rider had planned to do a long run, and conditions also did not allow for this either.

Rins completed a total of 37 laps. He reported improvements compared to yesterday’s outing and he was satisfied with his pace.

Mir put in 35 laps. He was able to feel the potential of the engine more clearly than the previous day and he felt happy with the progress made.

Team Suzuki Ecstar will now move onto Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia, a brand new track, for another three days of testing next weekend; February 11th-13th.

Alex Rins:

“We’ve concluded the Sepang test, and a bit earlier than expected, but it’s been great to be back on the bike. The first part of today felt like qualifying, we were all out there trying to get laps in before the rain came! We learned a lot during these two days about what works well for us, and what still needs some improvement, but overall we’re going to Mandalika with a very good bike. I’m going to watch some Superbike races to try and understand how the Mandalika circuit is, and I’m really excited to arrive there because my supporters there are amazing.”

Joan Mir:

“Overall I’m really happy about the last two days here. The bike is working well and my feeling is good. Today felt better than yesterday but we couldn’t put it all together to push for a lap time, anyway, our pace is strong. I understood the potential of the new bike and the new engine and I have no complaints. Both Alex and I feel that we’ve made a step forward, and that’s an important thing. I’m really excited and interested to go to Mandalika next week – the fans there are so supportive and kind, and I’m waiting to discover the track!”

Sylvain Guintoli:

“Over the past five days – including the shakedown – I’ve done about 250 laps, and it was really good to be back on the bike again, and back in Sepang because I really like this place. The testing programme was quite intense because the team brought many items, but everything seems to be working well so far, especially the engine spec. I also worked on the chassis, the suspension, the aerodynamics, and the ride height device. I managed to set a new personal best lap around here and overall the bike feels really well balanced, it also looks great!”

Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader and Team Director:

“We came here with 2022 spec. bikes, which we’d already seen promising signs from last year, and we brought some new items to try. Our test riders and race riders found some of the new items were working in good way, but we couldn’t finish checking a few things due to rain this afternoon – we will try them in Mandalika next week. But the overall feeling is that we are more competitive. Our riders and all the team are feeling very positive and motivated to start another test in Indonesia, and to be ready for the first round in Qatar. I would like to say thank you to everyone for giving their all in these tests, and for their help launching our new bike.”

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:

“We are pretty satisfied, we brought many items here and we were able to try almost all of them. The weather did disturb our plans a bit and it meant we couldn’t finish everything we wanted to, so we’ll continue the work in Mandalika. The important thing is that the 2022 engine spec. seems to be working well for us, and the riders are feeling quite happy.”

SEPANG TEST DAY 2 RESULTS:

1. BASTIANINI, Enea 1:58.131 13 / 25

2 ESPARGARO, Aleix 1:58.157 0.026 0.026 8 / 38

3 MARTIN, Jorge 1:58.243 0.112 0.086 8 / 27

4 RINS, Alex 1:58.261 0.130 0.018 31 / 37

5 VIÑALES, Maverick 1:58.261 0.130 0.000 10 / 42

6 BAGNAIA, Francesco 1:58.265 0.134 0.004 12 / 49

7 QUARTARARO, Fabio 1:58.313 0.182 0.048 12 / 54

8 MARQUEZ, Marc 1:58.332 0.201 0.019 7 / 49

9 ZARCO, Johann 1:58.413 0.282 0.081 10 / 47

10 ESPARGARO, Pol 1:58.420 0.289 0.007 9 / 50

11 MARINI, Luca 1:58.430 0.299 0.010 9 / 37

12 MIR, Joan 1:58.529 0.398 0.099 26 / 35

13 NAKAGAMI, Takaaki 1:58.607 0.476 0.078 14 / 42

14 MILLER, Jack 1:58.645 0.514 0.038 15 / 38

15 OLIVEIRA, Miguel 1:58.701 0.570 0.056 8 / 32

16 BEZZECCHI, Marco 1:58.710 0.579 0.009 11 / 46

17 MARQUEZ, Alex 1:58.800 0.669 0.090 14 / 57

18 BINDER, Brad 1:59.016 0.885 0.216 13 / 40

19 FERNANDEZ, Raul 1:59.180 1.049 0.164 17 / 24

20 DI GIANNANTONIO, Fabio 1:59.197 1.066 0.017 16 / 39

21 CRUTCHLOW, Cal 1:59.262 1.131 0.065 9 / 31

22 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea 1:59.284 1.153 0.022 12 / 55

23 GARDNER, Remy 1:59.348 1.217 0.064 34 / 35

24 MORBIDELLI, Franco 1:59.365 1.234 0.017 8 / 38

25 BINDER, Darryn 1:59.857 1.726 0.492 7 / 55

26 GUINTOLI, Sylvain 1:59.996 1.865 0.139 8 / 44

27 TSUDA, Takuya 2:05.678 7.547 5.682 3 / 4


2022 Sepang Test Image Gallery: CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS




For more stories about Alex Rins, Click Here. For photos, Click Here.

For more stories about Joan Mir, Click Here. For photos, Click Here.

For more stories about Sylvain Guintoli, Click Here. For photos, Click Here.

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Mark McGhee (609)

I was born a century too late, or maybe too early.
I like to ride motorcycles and write about that.

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