Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró arrive at Assen after a contrasting race for the Suzuki riders; 4th place for the first, retirement following electronic problems for the second.
There is also a contrast in terms of the technical solutions adopted to approach this 8th round of the season since, following the post-GP of Catalonia test, Maverick Viñales seems to have decided to switch to the 2016 chassis while, conversely, Aleix Espargaró announced that he wanted fall back on the 2015.
In any case, Suzuki is approaching this TT Assen with confidence based on both the last tests, the layout of the Dutch circuit (narrow, including numerous rapid breaks and with only two restarts, which is a priori favorable to the GSX-RR), and a past which, among other things, brought a second place in qualifying to #41 last year.
Maverick Vinales, 5th, 72 points: “The work we did on Monday after the race was very useful to better analyze the new characteristics of the chassis. I had been suffering from rear grip issues and the adjustments we found can apparently help me find better traction. This is an important step forward for me, in terms of my driving style. We are constantly making technical progress and as a result we are regularly fighting with the leading riders, although we are still missing that little something that allows us to fight for even better positions.
Assen will be both an important and difficult race, where we will have to try to finalize the best possible chassis settings and really stay focused. »
Aleix Espargaró, 7th, 49 points: “Assen is one of my favorite circuits in the championship, and thanks to the latest progress we have just made, I think I can have a good race there. Since the test in Barcelona two weeks ago, I have found a better direction to progress. I will probably go back to the old chassis because we found some very interesting solutions to tune it, which can be explored and exploited further.
At the end of the test, I did many laps because I felt comfortable and I had the clear feeling that we were progressing. This constant improvement, associated with the TT Assen route, gives me additional enthusiasm for this new race. »
