Power Updates Boost Suzuki
- Sep 29, 2015
- 3 min read
Team Suzuki Ecstar introduced a new engine and exhaust to booth GSX-RRs in Aragon in a bid to find more horsepower, an area in which they have lacked hugely this season. Both Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro said that they didn't notice much difference, but given the latter took his best result of the season suggests that the new parts did have a big effect.
Friday started off poorly for both Suzuki riders, the cold track temperatures yielding little grip for them. But as the track improved over the weekend so did Suzuki. Vinales' qualifying didn't go exactly to plan and started the race twelfth, dropping to seventeenth in the early stages. The Spaniard found his feet and soon worked his way back up to eleventh.
“Finally the result in the race is a little better than expected and I am happy that we could improve over the three days. Friday was really awful, so it is a great result to be as competitive as we were come Sunday. Of course we still have a lot to do, my team-mate took sixth so this means that the machine has a higher potential and we need to find the better way to exploit it. At the beginning of the race I did a good start and was preparing to overtake someone in the first corner, but unfortunately I had many troubles with the grip on the rear and I couldn't accelerate enough to complete the move. Then I was in a group of riders using soft tyres, making them more competitive on the first laps, and I had to stay there and fight to keep my pace.”
Espargaro enjoyed an excellent race with the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso and the Tech 3 Yamaha of Bradley Smith to cross the line a season-best sixth. Losing out a fair amount to the other bikes around on the straights, the long corners certainly played into the hands of the GSX-RR's chassis. Espargaro was able to keep up with the faster bikes around because of the slow, tight corners that preceded hard acceleration zones – the lack of horsepower means Suzuki can put more power down out of corners without electronic interference.
“I am very happy to be back amongst the top positions. The last races were very hard for us and we weren't where we deserved to be. In this race we could end in the positions that I think is more suitable for us and the only thing we have to do is to understand how to be this high-performing in every race. After Catalunya I think this was the most positive race in terms of feeling with the bike, assuming that we lost some acceleration in the straight it is very good that I was able to fight for fifth place. I could also enjoy the race, I had very much fun because I felt comfortable. I must say thank you to my team because we really did make huge improvements and they put me in the best condition to exploit the materials that we have at this point.”
Suzuki are said to be introducing another new engine in Motegi which should give them a bit more grunt, whilst their seamless gearbox should hopefully materialise for the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.
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