Positive first test day for Espargo and Vinales

Team Suzuki warm up in Valencia in Spain

• Racing
• Suzuki

Team Suzuki MotoGP made a positive first-day test at Valencia in Spain yesterday with new riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales aboard their 2015 GSX-RR MotoGP machines.
Twenty five-year-old Espargaro set a lap-time of 1:32.315 on his 35th of 40 laps around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo; and in his first laps aboard the machine was within 1.34-seconds away from fastest rider Jorge Lorenzo. Teenager Vinales (19) took his first-laps on the GSX-RR and set a best-time of 1:33.268 on his penultimate lap of 64.

Aleix Espargaro:
“It was really fantastic. I feel the riding-position is much better compared to the one that I rode this year, and it turns very well so that braking and turning into the corners is really comfortable for me.
“We are still missing some top-end power but I was previously informed about this by the Suzuki engineers and I believe that they are working on-it, but the electronic control is not too bad, obviously.
“The machine feels quite compact for me as I am quite tall, but I really enjoyed riding it and had a very positive start: I'm so excited to continue riding it tomorrow.
Maverick Vinales:
“It was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed today. It wasn't easy to get used to the power and speed for me in the beginning, so I paid a lot of attention and concentrated at the start of the session and tried to adapt little-by-little.

“The chassis is quite compact – and that fitted me very well – and I could brake as hard as in Moto2, but I’ve only opened ‘full-gas’ in the middle of the straight-straight so far. I'm also not using the electronic control either, apart from the traction control, so there is still a lot to do. The bike leans and corners easily, so I've not had to change my riding-style much; I’m feel really comfortable without modifying anything.
“I hope the power-delivery will improve more for me as we continue our testing, but I also need to learn lots more myself and improve my riding as well.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“I'm quite happy with our first day. The new team atmosphere is especially good, which gives the team good motivation and I’m glad to see that our new riders look so happy on their bikes. Our garage looks happy and relaxed.
“Another positive thing was that we got lots of feedback from our two riders: Aleix, who has more experience, understood the machine’s character very quickly and gave us the positive-points and negative-points immediately; while Maverick - who also enjoyed riding his MotoGP bike for the first time - prefers to go slowly but steadily to build up his confidence and find the limits.
“Overall, it was a very positive start, and we hope the weather stays good tomorrow, so we can continue to improve and move in the right direction.”
Valencia Day 1 Test Results:
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:30.975,
2 Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 1:31.118,
3 Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:31.204,
4 Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:31.250,
5 Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:31.465,
6 Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:31.602,
7 Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:31.644,
8 Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:31.847,
9 Michele Pirro (Ducati) 1:32.054,
10 Yonny Hernandez (Pramac Racing) 1: 32.146.
14 Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki MotoGP) 1:32.315.
17 Maverick Vinales (Team Suzuki MotoGP) 1:33.268
Information from Team Suzuki Press Office – November 10.