Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales ended the first day of practice ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix satisfied after finding a positive feeling on his GSX-RR.
The Twin Ring Motegi is a circuit many have cited as one Suzuki should be strong at, it’s stop-and-go nature well suited to the GSX-RR. Indeed, Vinales proved that the Japanese manufacturer will be a factor this weekend after ending the day third fastest with a 1m45.248s and just under a tenth off the pace.
Vinales spent the day optimising race set-up, looking at the tyres in particular. Though more or less happy in this area, the Spaniard admits that he needs to find something to improve tyre life a little more.
The Suzuki rider also praised his team for their efficiency, something he has seen improve greatly over the course of this season. This, he says, has allowed him to make much bigger steps with bike set-up.
Vinales is now looking to make further improvements on acceleration and with the rear tyre, as well as to the set-up of his bike’s electronics. He’ll also look at improving the bike for qualifying as, despite setting a quick time this afternoon, the Spaniard is yet to put in a proper flying lap at Motegi.
“I feel very good, today we have worked very hard with the tyres to prepare for the race and the results are positive. We still need to work on the rear to find a good set-up that could allow me to save the tyre until the end of the race,” Vinales explained.
“My team did a very good job, I can feel the improvements we have done throughout the season in being more effective in the adaptation of set-up and electronics between the sessions, our learning and adaptation process is getting faster and faster, allowing me to make big steps. For tomorrow we will work to find an even better feeling with the rear, improving acceleration, focusing on the electronics configuration, and then try a good time attack which is a thing we didn’t focus on today.”
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