Team Suzuki Press Office – August 23.
Alex Rins: 15th – 2:00.666 (+ 1.563)
Sylvain Guintoli: 20th – 2:02.240 (+ 3.015)
• Rins shows early form, focuses on set-up.
• Guintoli makes his return to racing to replace Joan Mir.
• Team looking ahead to dry and bright race.
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR took to the newly resurfaced Silverstone circuit for Round 12 of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship. Friday’s warm conditions helped the riders to assess the feel of the new asphalt.
Alex Rins used this opening day to work on settings and try different tyre options, as is often his plan on a Friday. Despite this, he steadily improved his lap time during FP1 and placed 4th at the end of the session. He was also the second fastest rider through Sector 2.
Sylvain Guintoli, who replaces Joan Mir this weekend while the rookie continues his convalescence, headed out on the Silverstone circuit just days after riding at the brand new KymiRing. The Frenchman had a small crash at Turn 14, but it was without consequence.
In the afternoon’s FP2, Rins was holding provisional Q2 pace for the majority of the session. But as the Spaniard continued to focus on set-up ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying sessions, he slipped down the order to 15th. Nevertheless, Rins reported good feelings on the new asphalt with his GSX-RR.
Guintoli spent FP2 working on settings, without pushing for a fast lap time. He aims to use tomorrow’s sessions to put in a string of quicker laps, whilst also continuing to give valuable feedback.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“It’s been a positive day. We needed to collect a lot of information to do with tyres and set-up, and we’ve managed to do that. We’re focusing on the race. Alex had good pace all day, even though we’re outside the Top 10. Sylvain has also been collecting information in regard to the race, and his performance has not been too bad today. We’re happy with how things are going.”
Alex Rins:
“I feel very good, they’ve done a really great job with the asphalt. This morning I was focusing on set-up, and this afternoon on tyres. Here we have four different tyre options so we wanted to try all of them and try to understand what will be best. Tomorrow morning I’ll try and improve my pace to get into Q2.”
Sylvain Guintoli:
“Today was interesting, the track is really nice. The tarmac is beautiful to ride in the dry at least, there aren’t many bumps and it’s a pleasure to be riding here – especially with the good weather! Today I didn’t try for a ‘hot lap’, I was just evaluating and working on tyre choice and set-up. Tomorrow I’ll have lots of tyres to work with, so I’ll try to push for a quick time. This morning I had a little off, but it’s almost year since my last crash, so I was due one! Luckily it was a very slow and small crash.”
GP of Silverstone – Combined Classification after Day 1:
1. F.QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1:59.225 FP2
2. M.MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1:59.476 0.251 / 0.251 FP2
3. M.VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.765 0.540 / 0.289 FP2
4. V.ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.937 0.712 / 0.172 FP2
5. C.CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1:59.993 0.768 / 0.056 FP2
6. A.DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 2:00.110 0.885 / 0.117 FP2
7. F.MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 2:00.183 0.958 / 0.073 FP2
8. M.OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 2:00.360 1.135 / 0.177 FP2
9. J.MILLER Pramac Racing 2:00.392 1.167 / 0.032 FP2
10. D.PETRUCCI Ducati Team 2:00.428 1.203 / 0.036 FP2
11. T.NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 2:00.492 1.267 / 0.064 FP2
12. A.ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:00.497 1.272 / 0.005 FP2
13. P.ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2:00.591 1.366 / 0.094 FP2
14. J.ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2:00.664 1.439 / 0.073 FP2
15. A.RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 2:00.666 1.441 / 0.002 FP2
16. F.BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 2:00.788 1.563 / 0.122 FP2
17. A.IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:00.907 1.682 / 0.119 FP2
18. T.RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 2:01.589 2.364 / 0.682 FP1
19. K.ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing 2:02.192 2.967 / 0.603 FP1
20. S.GUINTOLI Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 2:02.240 3.015 / 0.048 FP2
21. H.SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 2:02.417 3.192 / 0.177 FP2
22. J.LORENZO Repsol Honda Team 2:02.907 3.682 / 0.490 FP2
