BRING THE NOISE AS MOTOGP SEASON ROCKS ON

MGP-12-Alex Rins-10

Team Suzuki Press Office – August 5.

Joan Mir: 2nd – 1’59.100 (+ 0.154)
Alex Rins: 7th – 1’59.246 (+ 0.300
)

The excitement was obvious as the roar of bikes returned for MotoGP fans, following the five-week summer break. Silverstone circuit in the UK played host and Suzuki’s riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir wasted no time in showing their intentions.

FP1 saw Rins quickly get into second place, and at around the half-way point in the session he had set the fastest time. He set the best pace again less than 30 seconds before the chequered flag. Two final flying laps from his rivals pushed him to third, but his sector times clearly showed his pace.

Mir, having only ridden here on a MotoGP bike once before, settled into the session nicely and found a decent rhythm to claim eighth.

Both riders’ strength in FP1 stood them in good stead heading into FP2. Rins was once again running at the front, while Mir dramatically improved his lap time to continue climbing. The GSX-RR mounted pair were running first and second with just a couple of minutes left on the clock and closed the session with Mir in second, just over a tenth from the top, and Rins seventh, three tenths from first place.

Joan Mir:

“It’s been a good start to the weekend, and I’ve enjoyed today. We’re working well, and although we weren’t in the positions we expected at the start of the season, we’re continuing to put a lot of effort in and it’s paying off. We want to continue improving, and I feel that we can do that. I’m not very familiar with Silverstone, but it’s a very fluid and flowing track which really suits our bike. I want to be in the top positions for every session, but let’s see what happens when we work on our race pace.”

Alex Rins:

“It was a very good day, coming back strong from the holidays. Today I was initially missing a fast lap, but then I tried the soft tyre in the middle of the session, partly to improve, but also to get the feel of how that compound could be for the race. As always, our bike is working well here, you can see that both myself and Joan are feeling strong. I think it will be a competitive weekend with some close results.”

Livio Suppo – Team Manager:

“The first two sessions were positive, and both riders seem to be confident around here, so let’s look forward to the rest of the weekend. We go into tomorrow with both riders already in the Top 10, and I’m happy that the long break hasn’t affected anything – as soon as they were back on track, they were fast, so it’s really good.”

GRAND PRIX OF GREAT BRITAIN DAY 1 COMBINED CLASSIFICATION:

1 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’58.946
2 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’59.100 0.154 0.154
3 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 1’59.123 0.177 0.023
4 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 1’59.134 0.188 0.011
5 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’59.153 0.207 0.019
6 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’59.163 0.217 0.010
7 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’59.246 0.300 0.083
8 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’59.358 0.412 0.112
9 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’59.364 0.418 0.006
10 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’59.378 0.432 0.014
11 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’59.385 0.439 0.007
12 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’59.396 0.450 0.011
13 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 1’59.657 0.711 0.261
14 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 1’59.789 0.843 0.132
15 Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team 1’59.801 0.855 0.012
16 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 1’59.852 0.906 0.051
17 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’59.986 1.040 0.134
18 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 2’00.003 1.057 0.017
19 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 2’00.043 1.097 0.040
20 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP2’00.138 1.192 0.095
21 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2’00.144 1.198 0.006
22 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 2’00.154 1.208 0.010
23 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 2’01.528 2.582 1.374
24 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 2’01.578 2.632 0.050

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