EXCITING SUZUKI MOTOGP RINS AND MIR ONE-TWO ON OPENING DAY OF QATAR TEST

2020 Test-4-Qatar-Alex Rins-6

Team Suzuki Press Office – February 22.

Alex Rins: 1st – 1:54.462
Joan Mir: 2nd – 1:54.464 (+ 0.002)

The final test before the MotoGP season opener is taking place at Losail International Circuit in Qatar, and the opening day went smoothly for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR as Alex Rins and Joan Mir showed great pace to finish first and second on the time sheets.

The plan for both riders was to initially confirm their findings from the Sepang Test which took place a couple of weeks ago. The focus then switched to the fairing and front forks, as well as beginning the planning for the race weekend, which is now just two weeks away.

Rins reported positivity after working hard on comparing settings and parts. Going for a time attack at the end of the day, he set the fastest time to top the session before the chequered flag came out.

Mir showed consistency throughout the day, topping the timesheets for a large portion of the day before closing the session in second place – just two-thousandths-of-a-second behind his team-mate. He felt pleased with his consistency and is ready to continue working hard tomorrow.

The riders will have two more days at Losail, and track action will continue at 13:00 local time tomorrow.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager:

“We continued where we left off in Sepang, confirming the items we chose there. So now we’re trying to decide exactly what we’ll homologate for the season. We did a time attack at the end of the day, which not everyone did, but it’s still positive to have both riders at the top. We collected good information and Alex and Joan both worked very well. So, overall, today was good and we’re ready for the next two days.”

Alex Rins:

“I did one time attack right at the end of the day just to see how it would go, I wasn’t very confident because the temperature and humidity were dropping a bit, but in the end it went well, and I was able to set the fastest time. We tried a lot of things today and did lots of back-to-back comparisons, so that leaves me with a good feeling. Tomorrow we’ll continue this type of work.”

Joan Mir:

“I’m quite happy with today’s test because I felt comfortable with the bike straight away and we’re working well, so it’s been positive. There are still two more days to go and we have to continue improving and working. The track is a bit slippery, but it’s not as bad as I expected, and I was happy to set a good time and spend so much of the day at the top of the timesheets – it’s important and a good feeling, the consistency is crucial and it’s a good result.”

Classification after day 1:

1 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:54.462 47 47
2 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:54.464 51 54 0.002

3 Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1:54.494 31 50 0.032
4 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1:54.634 41 41 0.172
5 Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1:54.700 49 57 0.238
6 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1:54.823 28 42 0.361
7 Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1:54.876 50 51 0.414
8 Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1:55.074 43 56 0.612
9 Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 1:55.204 50 56 0.742
10 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:55.268 21 41 0.806
11 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1:55.308 32 43 0.846
12 Johann ZARCO Reale Avintia Racing 1:55.360 55 63 0.898
13 Jack MILLER Pramac Racing 1:55.430 27 51 0.968
14 Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:55.449 26 43 0.987
15 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1:55.627 30 41 1.165
16 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:55.644 50 53 1.182
17 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1:55.707 51 60 1.245
18 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1:55.737 42 42 1.275
19 Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1:55.757 31 50 1.295
20 Iker LECUONA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1:56.135 27 47 1.673
21 Alex MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1:56.552 45 57 2.090
22 Bradley SMITH Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:57.027 43 54 2.565

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