Rain prevented any testing on the Losail circuit in Qatar and also put an end to the 2015 season’s MotoGP™ winter testing schedule before the season start at the same venue next weekend. 

The winter testing sessions gave the Team SUZUKI ECTAR engineers a lot of data to work on, and also riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales had the chance to get familiar with their GSX-RRs. So far the machines proved to be very effective in terms of chassis and suspension, while there is still room for improvements on engine and electronics sides.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR is now eager to get into racing following all the development work that has been done during last two years of preparation for the Japanese manufacturer’s return to the top-level of global racing. Riders and engineers are ready to take the challenge to the 2015 MotoGP™ Championship, having collected enough experience to be competitive at the highest level.

Satoru Terada – Team Director:

“We are now ready to race and we can’t wait to measure ourselves on the track. I’m satisfied with our development program over the past two years: we know that we lack some horsepower and our engineers in Japan are already working on this issue, but we are also aware that our machines are very effective in terms of chassis and set-ups. The riders seem to be comfortable and this gives us good hope. We did a huge amount of work in development and now we need to take to the track for racing, which is in our spirit. I’m expecting to see our riders fight with the other Factory teams, I know that it will be very hard, especially in first races, but I want us to catch up with the best as soon as possible because I know we can do it. We will continue to introduce improvements to the bikes over the whole season and hopefully they will lead us to be more-and-more competitive over the 18 races.”

Aleix Espargaro:

“Unfortunately today we couldn’t test because of the rain, which is pretty weird since we are supposed to be in the desert. We had some work to do and it is a pity we couldn’t, but at the same time we are pretty confident about our condition. We know we can still improve and we have directions where we know we can go, but now it’s time to go racing because this is what we’re here for. We will make some final testing during the first day here in Qatar, but we are already pretty confident we can perform well. We already know that we have a good chassis and we made good steps forward in electronics; further technical improvements will come but now it’s time to find a good pace with the package that we have, which is already positive. I really can’t wait to get into the races!”

Maverick Viñales:

“I’m disappointed for today’s rain, I’m a rookie and I need to ride my GSX-RR as much as possible to get familiar with it. It’s not really a problem of technical improvements that could have been tested, it is more a matter of experience and feeling. Anyway, we are all here for racing, not for only testing, so I’m happy that the next time I take to the track it will be a real preparation for the race. We have positive feelings about this, will work on all the data we collected and will try to be consistent with the hard tyre, which means being competitive in race.”