The Marc VDS Racing Team concluded a successful two-day test at the Estoril circuit in Portugal this afternoon. While Scott Redding and Mika Kallio worked on further improving the set-up of their Suter MMXI Moto2 machines, Damian Cudlin and Carmelo Morales continued the development of the BMW-powered Suter MVDS MotoGP bike. Redding tested a number of new tyres from Dunlop, while also making a number of small improvements to the set-up of his Marc VDS Moto2 machine. The 18-year-old British rider declared himself happy with the progress made during the two days, despite crashing without injury late this afternoon. Like his teammate, Kallio was also pleased with the progress made during the test. The Finn crashed twice in the same place during the Estoril race weekend, but changes to both the geometry and the front suspension set-up on his Suter MMXI machine led to significant improvements, making the bike easier to ride and boosting the Marc VDS rider’s confidence. The Suter MVDS MotoGP machine has undergone major changes since the first shakedown test at Jerez almost six months ago. The bike rolled out for testing at Estoril on Tuesday featured a more powerful version of the BMW S1000RR engine, a completely revised electronics package, carbon brakes and the latest specification Bridgestone MotoGP tyres. Test riders Damian Cudlin and Carmelo Morales were quick to adapt to the revised bike, working with the Marc VDS Racing Team’s technical staff to find a good base set-up, before switching their focus to refining the operation of the bike’s electronic systems. Two extremely positive days of testing at Estoril have given the Marc VDS and Suter Racing engineers the rider feedback and the valuable data with which to continue the development of the Suter MVDS MotoGP machine, ahead of the bike’s next track test. Scott Redding #45 “I think we got more out of these two days here in Estoril than we did out of our winter test program. We didn’t try anything drastic on the bike here; it was more a case of making small changes just to refine the set-up of the bike further. We tried a few things that didn’t work as we expected, but that’s what testing is for. On the whole, the majority of the changes we made led to small improvements with the bike, so I’m happy with the progress we’ve made. I’m looking forward to Le Mans now, where I’m confident, collisions permitting, I can make up for the disappointment of finishing out of the points last weekend.” Mika Kallio #36 “The two days here at Estoril were important for me; to try and get a better feeling with the bike and improve my confidence so that I can push harder. I crashed twice in the same place during the weekend, including in the race itself, so we switched to a front-end set-up with slightly different geometry and modified front fork settings for the test. There was a definite improvement, the bike was easier to ride and I had more confidence to push into the corners. We will continue with the same set-up for the next race at Le Mans, where I hope we’ll finally be able to realise our true potential after a difficult start to the season.” Damian Cudlin – Marc VDS Test Rider “It took a little bit of time to adjust to the changes to the bike, mainly the Bridgestone tyres, the carbon brakes and the new electronics package, but I think we managed to work our way through the whole test program at Estoril. The bike has certainly been improved since the Jerez test at the end of last year, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Getting the electronics package working properly will be critical if the bike is to be competitive, and this is what we were focussed on during the second day. We saw some improvements, and collected a lot of data, but we definitely need more track time if we’re going to get everything dialled in properly. Overall it was a very positive test, and we leave Estoril with a very clear idea of the direction we need to take with the development of the bike.”