Team Suzuki MotoGP made a positive first-day test at Valencia in Spain today 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.
‰ÛÏIt was really fantastic." Espargaro said. "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.
‰ÛÏWe are still missing some top-end power but I was previously informed this by the Suzuki engineers and I believe that they are working on-it, but the electronic control is not too bad, obviously.
‰ÛÏThe 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 exciting to continue riding it tomorrow.
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.
‰ÛÏIt was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed today." Vinales commented. "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.
‰ÛÏThe chassis is quite compact ‰ÛÒ and that fitted me very well ‰ÛÒ and I could brake as hard as in Moto2, but I‰Ûªve only opened ‰Û÷full-gas‰Ûª 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, even though I've not had to change my riding-style so much; I‰Ûªm really feel comfortable without modifying anything.
‰ÛÏI hope the power-delivery will be improved-more for me as we continue our testing, but I also need to learn lots more myself and improve my riding as well.‰Û
