Team Suzuki Press Office – November 13.
Combined practice times:
Alex Rins: 9th – 1’30.947 (+ 0.325)
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’31.080 (+ 0.458)
The riders were back on track today for the penultimate round of the 2020 MotoGP season and the Valencia GP. It was a much warmer and drier start to the event than we saw a week ago, and this allowed the riders to crack on with setup and settings without concerns about conditions.
In FP1 the Team Suzuki Ecstar pairing of Joan Mir and Alex Rins showed early pace and they enjoyed a steady and trouble-free session as they built upon the good feeling they have with their GSX-RRs at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. They closed the session in eighth and 11th respectively.
In the afternoon it was the same story; working hard with setup and trying various tyre options, gauging the feel on used tyres, and showing strong lap times. The whole field was close together, with the top 19 covered by just 0.749!
Mir spent the majority of the session in the Top 3 positions, but a quick crash at Turn 4 put paid to his charge up the time screens. Thankfully the Mallorcan was uninjured and he got straight back on track following the off. Rins upped his pace towards the end of the session and he confirmed his place inside the Top 10 ahead of tomorrow’s FP3, finishing ninth on combined times. Mir took 12th overall.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“I feel positive today. Joan had a crash in FP2 and he couldn’t use the full potential on the time attack, but both he and Alex have good pace and put in a lot of laps while collecting information. We’re always working to improve the bike, even though last weekend both riders felt good. Whenever you do back-to-back races at the same track, the level goes up and the gaps between the riders is reduced, so we’ll continue working. Alex is in the Top 10 for now, and Joan will try again tomorrow morning – even though we’re sure it will be a big battle for Q2 – and we feel confident that we can have a good weekend.”
Alex Rins:
“It was a good day, I’m actually close to the top of the times despite finishing ninth today on combined. Today I focused on trying a few things that we couldn’t really work on last week because of the rain. In the end my rhythm was nice and I felt good, but I’ll try to improve more tomorrow with the aim of getting a great qualifying position. It’s going to be a big challenge this weekend because everybody is close, so we need to stay focused and try to find the optimum setup.”
Joan Mir:
“Luckily I’m fine after the crash. I began working on race pace and general setup and feeling. I was trying the hard front tyre when I went down, and I think we were at the lower temperature limit for using this tyre. Of course the feeling with the second bike is never the same as with your number one bike, and I was never able to really push for a fast lap. It was a bit of a shame because I was feeling good and the bike was working well, but I just missed that really quick lap. Tomorrow I’ll work more on the time attack and we’ll see what we can do.”
GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA – Combined Classification after DAY1:
1. J. MILLER – Pramac Racing – 01:30.622
2. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – 01:30.713 – +0.091
3. F. BAGNAIA – Pramac Racing – 01:30.742 – +0.120
4. P. ESPARGARO – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:30.821 – +0.199
5. J. ZARCO – Esponsorama Racing – 01:30.899 – +0.277
6. A. DOVIZIOSO – Ducati Team – 01:30.926 – +0.304
7. C. CRUTCHLOW – LCR Honda CASTROL – 01:30.930 – +0.308
8. F. MORBIDELLI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:30.944 – +0.115
9. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:30.947 – +0.325
10. M. VIÑALES – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:30.968 – +0.139
11. A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:30.989 – +0.367
12. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:31.080 – +0.458
13. S. BRADL – Repsol Honda Team – 01:31.106 – +0.484
14. D. PETRUCCI – Ducati Team – 01:31.230 – +0.608
15. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:31.261 – +0.639
16. F. QUARTARARO – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:31.326 – +0.704
17. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Tech 3 – 01:31.330 – +0.708
18. V. ROSSI – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:31.371 – +0.749
19. A. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 01:31.371 – +0.749
20. T. RABAT – Esponsorama Racing – 01:32.058 – +1.436
21. L. SAVADORI – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:32.393 – +1.771
