SUZUKI MOTOGP UPBEAT AFTER BARCELONA TEST 

The Suzuki MotoGP Test Team has completed a busy and positive three-days of testing at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit in Spain today.

Test rider Randy De Puniet was joined by Takuya Tsuda for the official MotoGP test with the current series riders and teams; and then a private test today to evaluate several new revisions to the development 2015 Suzuki machine that included a new-specification engine, plus electronic ignition and chassis revisions.

With weather conditions fluctuating over the three-days, but averaging 25° Air/ 35° Track temperatures, De Puniet put-in his fastest lap on the opening day with a time of 1’43”683. Over the three days, he completed 200 laps of the 4.655 km, 16-corner circuit. Tsuda, who was supporting De Puniet and adding to the Suzuki MotoGP data-logging and evaluation of the new parts and settings at the event, completed a total of 103 laps.

Said De Puniet: “It was not such an easy period as we had a lot of bad luck after Sepang with many rainy days at other tests. But it was important to be here with all the other MotoGP riders to see our potential; we still have to continue to work on the electronics-side to improve our performances.

“We tested many different things with electronic-maps, on engine-specifications and with the chassis also. I had a better feeling with some of the solutions and we found some good direction here. We still have many days of testing remaining this year and we have time to make further developments.”

Suzuki MotoGP Test Team Manager Davide Brivio said: “In three days of testing you expect to do a lot, but at the end it is never enough, especially for us, who are at a development stage.

“Randy wanted to try everything together and see the real performance but we had no chance, although we went through many different things, finding very good information for our next steps forward. We also asked the additional support of Takuya Tsuda this time to run more testing on electronics-side.

“Overall, our engineers were happy with the information we gathered, which indicates a good direction for our next electronics, chassis and engine developments. It was important to get this information now, as we now have time to work on it in time for the next tests. So we are looking forward to continuing our job.”

Suzuki MotoGP Director and Project Leader Satoru Terada said: “We had three-days with a hard job to do: We didn’t get the lap time we wanted but we tested many solutions with good information and feedback for our engineers. We had chassis and engine development-spec to test and now we are clearer how to work in the future.

“On the electronics-side, it was very important too and with this information we can go back to Japan to continue our development.”