The final day of testing in Malaysia saw a move away from race simulations and testing of major parts, and instead the focus was shifted to more minor adjustments. This allowed Joan Mir his chance to work on race pace and gave Alex Rins the time to try new front and rear tyres. Although all four riders, counting also on Sylvain Guintoli and Takuya Tsuda, also collected useful information about the 2019 package.

Despite three very tough days in the searing heat of Sepang, the riders and team completed the test with very positive feelings about the work done. Joan Mir was happy to put together a string of fast laps which saw him drop into the 1:59 bracket with a 1:59.486, finishing the session in 15th place. Meanwhile Alex Rins built on the great pace shown on days one and two, setting a 1:59.180 before completing an incredible 75 laps. He was 12th at the flag. Test Rider Guintoli continued in his crucial role, helping to finalise settings and giving valuable feedback.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR will be back on track at the Qatar Test on February 23rd.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager

“At the end of these three days we’re feeling happy about the work we’ve done. We tested a lot of things, and the riders have been busy working on the development of the bike. We’ve confirmed our 2019 package, and we compared several different items and components. Everything is a clearer now in terms of what works best. We’ll go to the Qatar test now, where we’ll put everything together with a sort of final package for the first race. Alex was very focused and fast, with a lot of good laps. And Joan was able to go for it on this final day, after putting everything together, and we feel good about his progression and work. Sylvain helped us a lot with selecting parts, so thank you to him and to all our staff for their hard work during the winter.”

Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager

“It was a very positive test, our four riders (Rins, Mir, Guintoli and Tsuda) did a great job. It helped us that the weather was very good, and during our six days in total here we completed a lot of useful things. We brought many new items here, so the main thing was to choose which ones we would use for the race, and we were able to make some important selections. We’re all very tired from this hard work, but we feel it has been very productive.”

Alex Rins

“Today was a very positive day, and so were the previous two days. We’ve tried a lot of things and we’ve developed the bike a bit more, so I feel our package is even better now. I was able to do a lot of laps in the 1:59 bracket. For sure we need to keep working and try a few other things in Qatar that we didn’t have a chance to check here, and the engineers will continue to work. I feel that the championship will be really interesting this year, there are a lot of riders close together, and a very high level.”


Joan Mir

“Today’s been really good because during the first couple of days I was adjusting to the bike, trying to get better with it, and also trying a lot of new things and new parts. Today I made a good step and I had good pace, so that’s really nice. I feel I have improved every day so I’m really happy about how this test has gone. I’ve learned a lot, which I think is inevitable when you’re doing around 60 laps per day. I understand the bike better, as well as the tyres and various mechanical things too.”

Sylvain Guintoli

“We’ve done a lot of testing because we had a lot to do and the weather was good, without any rain, so we made the most of every moment. This meant we were able to complete our planned programme. I spent a lot of time on track and everything went well. This was a really important block of testing for the team, just before the season starts. I’m happy to have been able to give good feedback.”