Team Suzuki Press Office – April 29.
Alex Rins: 8th – 1’37.726 (+ 0.655)
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’37.842 (+ 0.771)
Team Suzuki Ecstar’s riders seriously impressed in the first session at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto where Joan Mir topped the session and Alex Rins slotted into second. But in FP2 the duo couldn’t quite bring their pace down enough to both close Friday within the Top 10 combined. Rins will begin qualifying day from eighth, and Mir from 12th.
Despite a beautiful sunny start to the weekend in Jerez, the remains of Thursday’s violent thunderstorm were still evident on track and damp patches were to be avoided as the riders attacked the time sheets. With the first 13 runners covered by half a second, it wasn’t an easy ask to go fastest. However, both Mir and Rins proved confident on their GSX-RRs, and despite both losing a fast lap due to being held up by other riders, their pace shone through.
FP2 was a quieter session, and although the Suzuki riders shaved a few tenths off their lap times and hovered around the Top 10, they weren’t quite able to execute a truly flying lap in the highly competitive session. Mir set his best time of the weekend with a new soft tyre, but a mistake cost him his final hot lap. Nevertheless, the team and riders are happy with their race pace.
Alex Rins:
“It’s only Friday but things are looking very good. There’s still margin to improve, especially considering that the race will be held in similar conditions to FP2, and I suffered a little bit with front feeling. Tomorrow we’ll work on that area so that I can ride a bit more comfortably and push a bit more. I did a long run of laps and I learned a lot from that, so overall it’s been a useful and competitive day.”
Joan Mir:
“I feel really good about today; we’re working well and I feel comfortable with the bike. It was a shame that I missed the last flying lap when I went wide at Turn 2, because my pace on the fresh tyres was pretty strong. Because of that moment I will now have to focus on being quick in FP3 to get direct passage to Q2. My race pace feels nice though, so my confidence remains high.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“I’m very happy with today because both our riders have really good race pace. In FP1 we held one and two in the session, and that was nice to see. Joan missed out on the final time attack lap in FP2 due to a small mistake, but it doesn’t worry us because the conditions in FP3 should be conducive to fast lap times. Our bike and our riders seem to be looking great here.”
GRAND PRIX OF SPAIN DAY 1 COMBINED CLASSIFICATION:
1 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’37.071
2 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’37.272 0.201 0.201
3 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’37.283 0.212 0.011
4 Jorge MARTIN Pramac Racing 1’37.368 0.297 0.085
5 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’37.581 0.510 0.213
6 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’37.585 0.514 0.004
7 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 1’37.590 0.519 0.005
8 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’37.726 0.655 0.136
9 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 1’37.759 0.688 0.033
10 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’37.762 0.691 0.003
11 Johann ZARCO Pramac Racing 1’37.830 0.759 0.068
12 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’37.842 0.771 0.012
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’37.848 0.777 0.006
14 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’37.952 0.881 0.104
15 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’38.012 0.941 0.060
16 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 1’38.027 0.956 0.015
17 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’38.102 1.031 0.075
18 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’38.196 1.125 0.094
19 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’38.200 1.129 0.004
20 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 1’38.285 1.214 0.085
21 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’38.313 1.242 0.028
22 Stefan BRADL Team HRC 1’38.322 1.251 0.009
23 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 1’38.353 1.282 0.031
24 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 1’38.888 1.817 0.535
25 Lorenzo SAVADORI Aprilia Racing 1’38.960 1.889 0.072
