Day one of testing saw Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Maverick Viñales second on the timesheets behind 2015 MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo.
The Spanish rider is looking impressive again this season on his Suzuki which is in its second season since returning to the Moto GP class. Viñales finished day one with a fastest time of 1:55.880, just 0.428 seconds behind Jorge Lorenzo on his Movistar Yamaha.
The ‘evolving’ Suzuki is still in development stages; the riders are working to transition from the 2015 chassis to the 2016 one and to improve the electronics settings. Test rider Takuya Tsuda is currently at Qatar to test the seamless up and down gearbox before it is introduced to the machines of Viñales and his teammate Aleix Espagaro. Team boss Davide Brivio announced how they plan to run the two Spanish riders bikes with the gearbox on the second day of testing.
“I’m happy with the work we could do today and for the result of this first day. We didn’t focus on testing so many things but more to find consistency in the improvement of the setting and the electronics. We have tested both the 2015 and 2016 chassis and the results are positive. Although my best lap was done with the old chassis, my feeling is that with the new one we are already very close and this leaves us a lot of room for improvement.
“We made many laps and did a huge amount of work, the times here are getting very, very fast these days; for example, my lap time is already almost one second faster than last year’s race, therefore we really need to keep on working. I feel very confident with the front tyre, while we still need to work on the rear as we couldn’t find the perfect grip yet, so we can improve further.”
Viñales’ teammate was not as successful as him today finishing eleventh with a time of 1:56.552. Unfortunately the Spanish rider came off towards the end of the session at Turn 14 of the Losail International Circuit. The session was red flagged for a short period of time so that the track could be cleared of debris. Espargaro, who has not seemed as comfortable on the Suzuki, was fortunately unharmed and was able to return to the pits before returning to testing.
