The floodlights went off on the Losail International Circuit in Qatar as well as on official 2016 MotoGP World Championship testing, as Team Suzuki Ecstar‰Ûªs Maverick Vi̱ales again proved himself one of the most effective riders in pre-season testing.
The third day in Qatar saw him constantly in the leading positions, finally resulting in third position overall with a best lap of 1‰Ûª55.333. His performance is only 0.007s from second place and 0.523s from the first, but what‰Ûªs impressive of his performance is not only the single lap-time but also his consistency throughout the whole tests, in Qatar and also in Australia, previously.
Vi̱ales has registered consistent improvements since the early tests in Valencia, in November 2015, and despite a little slow-down in the IRTA test in Sepang in February, he then put his name ‰ÛÒ and his GSX-RR - on top since the first day in Australia, and never gave up. The improvements done in all areas of the machine proved to be effective according to his riding style and he managed the new Michelin tyres well.
‰ÛÏOverall I think we finished the winter test in a very good position and today was also a good day as I finished third," Vi̱ales said.
"I was trying the time attack when they showed the red flag; this prevented me exploiting the new set of tyres at its best and further lower my lap time. It‰Ûªs a pity because after the early runs we made some changes on the bike and I felt very confident.
"Anyway I‰Ûªm happy because with used tyres I could keep a pace around 1‰Ûª55-and-a-half, which is a pace that in race could lead to the podium. I am happy about the team, the work we have done, we all improved and also, so has the bike. Here in Qatar it wasn‰Ûªt easy, the straight is long and our engine still has some room for improvement, but this makes me confident for the first race.
"In the last two runs I also tested the full seamless for the first time and this is another big improvement. I couldn‰Ûªt try a time attack with it but my feeling is that it has a lot of potential, we need to work on it for the finalisation and I hope we can use it in the race. We have worked a lot this winter, the Suzuki Factory delivered us huge improvements and the results so far are positive. We look positively towards the race, where I hope I‰Ûªll be able to make even further steps forward," the Spaniard concluded.