Team Suzuki Press Office – June 6.
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’40.027 (+ 0.580)
As Suzuki’s sole representative on track at Montmeló on Monday due to the injury Alex Rins suffered in yesterday’s Catalan GP, Joan Mir put in plenty of work and lots of laps to help the squad find improvements ahead of the next races. He finished the day in 12th place with a best time of 1’40.027.
The main focus was on two new aerodynamic package options which were put through comparison runs. Mir gave good feedback regarding both, and a decision will be made on which to choose for the forthcoming races. He also worked on more generalised set-up and adjustment options with his GSX-RR and felt an improvement on the front end turning.
Overall, the team felt optimistic after the large number of laps put in by Mir in the blazing sun, a total of 72, and they are generally pleased with the direction of development.
The next stop will be the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, which will start in 10 days time.
Joan Mir:
“Today we focused mainly on trying to understand and improve corner entry, and I’m happy about the step we’ve made there. We still have to tweak it a bit more to make it even better, but it’s nice to feel an improvement. The team put in a lot of work today, and we went through the programme pretty well. The new aero package options felt good and I’m looking forward to trying one or the other again in the next race.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“It’s been a positive day, despite the fact that Alex couldn’t test due to his unfortunate injury. We had some different items to test – the most obvious of which were the two new aero fairings – and we’ll now check the data on those to see which could be the better of the two to use. Joan felt good today and he found some improvements, so the efforts of him and the team have paid off. We’ve shown today that we’re still implementing new items according to the original test plan set at the start of 2022, and the fact that Suzuki is leaving doesn’t change that.”
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:
“Joan did a very good job today, and especially as he was alone in testing due to Alex being unable to ride. He put in many laps and went through many items, the main focus of which were the aero packages. We made some steps in terms of chassis and other settings, and also an improvement in the turning of the bike. We’re feeling very optimistic about the coming races, and we won’t stop trying until the end.”
CATALAN TEST RESULTS:
1 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’39.447
2 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’39.451 0.004 0.004
3 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 1’39.500 0.053 0.049
4 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’39.558 0.111 0.058
5 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 1’39.688 0.241 0.130
6 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’39.742 0.295 0.054
7 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 1’39.780 0.333 0.038
8 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’39.795 0.348 0.015
9 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’39.844 0.397 0.049
10 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’39.963 0.516 0.119
11 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’39.998 0.551 0.035
12 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’40.027 0.580 0.029
13 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’40.047 0.600 0.020
14 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’40.088 0.641 0.041
15 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 1’40.197 0.750 0.109
16 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 1’40.335 0.888 0.138
17 Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team 1’40.474 1.027 0.139
18 Michele PIRRO Ducati Test Team 1’40.610 1.163 0.136
19 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 1’40.627 1.180 0.017
20 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 1’40.746 1.299 0.119
21 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’40.765 1.318 0.019
22 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 1’41.144 1.697 0.379
