Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing enjoyed a positive opening day of testing at Cartagena in Spain with riders Josh Brookes, Alastair Seeley and Guy Martin. All three riders worked on their individual pre-season set-up rituals on a range of machinery, with the ‘unveiling’ of the all-new GSX-R600 Suzuki raising quite a few eyebrows, both on and off the track with its performance and aesthetics.

Alastair Seeley was pretty much at one with his new Suzuki Supersport machine from the opening session and is looking forward to the next three days. Josh Brookes, who only arrived in Northern Ireland on Wednesday, could have been forgiven for being a tad jaded, but the Australian also enjoyed his first day on the GSX-R1000 Superbike and working with his new team. Guy Martin, fresh from his high profile TV debut the night before, was his usual chirpy self and got through a large chunk of work on day one.

Josh Brookes

“ Everything is looking really positive after the first day. I did start today feeling like a bit of a passenger. I was seriously impressed with the bike but I didn’t feel at one with it straight away. That didn’t take too long for the boys to sort out after we made a number of small changes and position adjustments. In the afternoon when I felt comfortable I was able to push and felt like we were going somewhere; I was spinning the rear tyre and pulling wheelies and starting to enjoy it and really felt part of the bike. I only met the guys in the team the day before but I already feel like I’ve known them for a long time – so for a first day it couldn’t have gone any better.”

Alastair Seeley

“It’s good to be back on a bike after a long winter lay off. I’ve been really looking forward to getting on the new GSX-R600 and it felt so planted from the first session. We made a couple of very small changes and we put in some decent times in that first session. We have four days here so I didn’t want to go mad on day one but it’s a great bike and I can’t wait to get racing it.”


Guy Martin

“There’s a good atmosphere with all the guys out in Spain and today was spot on. We made the usual load of little changes that you do at this time of year, and they are starting to make a big difference. I’ve a lot to learn yet but I’m looking forward to the year ahead with the team and the final three days of this test will give us a good starting point.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager

“It’s been a long hard off-season but now everything is in place and it’s great to get on track with the boys. Josh had less than 24 hours to settle into his new place in Northern Ireland before heading off to Spain, but is already within half a second of his best ever time at the circuit – that’s some going on day one. I’m now looking forward to seeing what he can do when he really gets settled in. Guy is there to try out a couple of different bike specs and Alastair has jumped on the new GSX-R600 and looks like he’s ridden it all his life. The bike is still at stage one but the times and feedback is very encouraging already. Let’s hope day two is as productive.”