TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR MAKE FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR 2019

• Alex Rins builds on Day 1’s hard work.
• Joan Mir continues excellent adaptation process.
• The Team end on a high as important settings found.

The second day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera also marked the final day of MotoGP track action in 2018. The ‘winter test ban’ will now come into place for December, and the next official test will see the teams head to Sepang in February.

With the pressure on to finalise settings and seal the engines for 2019, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR put in another day of hard work which saw Rins, Mir and Guintoli all trying different aspects of the 2019 package.

On Day 1 Alex Rins was the rider who completed the most laps (87) and the Spaniard was keen to continue the progress made. Testing the new chassis and engine spec., he was able to make comparisons and try many different settings, and felt comfortable and confident. He also spent time working on electronics and the swingarm. He completed 63 laps and finished 10th.

Meanwhile Mallorcan rookie Joan Mir switched his focus towards understanding how the changes affect the bike. But he was also able to try lots of useful parts as well as the new chassis and engine. He was 14th, without pushing for a fast lap. And clocked 55 laps in total.

And Test Rider Sylvain Guintoli helped the team in working towards finding the final settings. The Frenchman felt very positive about the work carried out, and believes it will pay off well coming into 2019.

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager
“During these two days of testing we could try many things. Alex tried the new engine spec. and new chassis spec. and we collected a lot of data and found some positive points. Also Joan tried the new engine and chassis and shared his input too. So thanks to them, and also thanks to Sylvain because he’s also done an important job. We feel prepared for the winter and we’ll be working very hard.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“Today was another good day of testing, very intense and useful. Here we had different options of chassis and engine, together with some other items like the swingarm and some electronics, so we had to work hard to define which works better. It’s a tough job, pretty boring for the riders but absolutely crucial. We have to put together all the best pieces and compose the puzzle, especially for the engine we have to take a decision now that will affect the winter work and the whole new season. We have some pressure on for this, but that’s racing and the pressure is also our motivation. All Alex, Joan and Sylvain carried out this hard work, putting together lot of information that will now be useful for the engineers, and I’m happy that Alex could also put together a positive lap time. So we can go into this winter break feeling happy and hoping for a positive restart again in February in Sepang.”

Alex Rins
“These two days have been very positive because we tried everything – new chassis, new engine, and lots of comparisons. Yesterday I was more focused on the chassis, and today more focused on the engine. This morning we started with the 2018 chassis and the new engine spec. and we tried all the suggestions that the engineers made, it was very positive. We haven’t finalised yet, but the engineers will be working on this. We’ve been working very hard and we feel like we can have a very competitive bike.”

Joan Mir
“It was a really tough day today. We were really focused on trying the new parts because we need to prepare everything for the winter so the guys in Japan can continue their work there. It’s been a pretty positive day, we tried a little bit of everything and did some comparisons and that was useful. We weren’t focused on lap times today, it was more for me to try the engine. We have a lot of good information to send to Japan. I feel that I’m improving with every session, I still need to get more used to riding the big bike but it’s gone well.”

Sylvain Guintoli
“The test was very useful for us when it comes to defining the way forward for next year. Losing the concessions has made our work during these test days even more relevant because obviously once the engine choice is settled, that will be it. We’ve all worked a lot during this Jerez test, and we’re really happy about the job we’ve done. I’ll miss riding my bike for the next two months! But we’ve accomplished a lot with the testing and as we saw during 2018, the work in the tests really pays off on track.”

JEREZ WINTER TEST – Day 2 Classification:
1 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1:37.945 Session 2
2 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1:37.968 +0.023 Session 1
3 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1:37.970 +0.025 Session 2
4 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:38.066 +0.121 Session 2
5 Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team 1:38.105 +0.160 Session 2
6 Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1:38.118 +0.173 Session 2
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1:38.185 +0.240 Session 1
8 Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing 1:38.207 +0.262 Session 2
9 Francesco BAGNAIA Alma Pramac Racing 1:38.333 +0.388 Session 2
10 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:38.522 +0.577 Session 2
11 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 1:38.596 +0.651 Session 2
12 Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1:38.761 +0.816 Session 2
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati Test Team 1:38.830 +0.885 Session 1
14 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1:38.876 +0.931 Session 2
15 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:38.931 +0.986 Session 2
16 Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:39.008 +1063 Session 1
17 Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:39.144 +1199 Session 2
18 Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing 1:39.744 +1799 Session 2
19 Johann ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:39.864 +1919 Session 2
20 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:40.156 +2211 Session 2
21 Bradley SMITH Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:40.174 +2229 Session 1
22 Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki Test Team 1:40.498 +2553 Session 2
23 Hafizh SYAHRIN KTM Tech 3 Racing 1:40.520 +2575 Session 2
24 Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM Tech 3 Racing 1:40.577 +2632 Session 2
25 Matteo BAIOCCO Aprilia Racing Test Team 1:41.907 +3962 Session 2

Story issued by: Team SUZUKI ECSTAR.