At Suzuki, this first part of the season is not the most exciting. Last year's performances are only a distant memory, the new recruit Iannone is far from forgetting the former leader Viñales while the hopeful Alex Rins is first noticed by his injuries. The latter was back from convalescence during tests after the Catalan Grand Prix in Montmélo. And the least we can say is that it will still take time to regain its splendor.
Nothing is simple at Suzuki at the moment and the slump is such that the team Davide Brivio even finds himself, reluctantly, at the center of rumors of a transfer market which opened in Barcelona. It is Iannone who is at the center of the rumors, the same one who demanded the rapid return of his teammate Kidneys to help him properly develop a GSX-RR with which he had lost track.
The Spaniard was actually at work in Catalonia for the tests, but, given the service provided, the Italian will still have to fend for himself for a while in the development. Alex Rins must find his rhythm again after an injury which was not trivial. What's more, the 21-year-old Spaniard scared himself when he fell. Fortunately not serious.
On his reunion with the competition, Kidneys comments: “ I lost the feeling of MotoGP and during the first laps, I told myself that I was riding really fast. But when I saw the times, I realized that I was actually slow. These first laps in Barcelona were very important to regain confidence and look for the limit ».
A limit that he familiarized with: “ in turn 3 I took some bumps and lost the front. But fortunately I am not injured. It's better this way. When you come back from such an injury, the first few rounds are complicated. It was gradually that I regained confidence to brake hard for turns. ».
Sensations which will, however, take time to return given the results: seventeenth and penultimate just ahead of the one who replaced him in France, Mugello and Catalonia Sylvain Guintoli. But it is also true thatAndrea Iannone could not do better than fourteenth. “ We didn't try anything on the bike, the goal was to ride. Only the position of the saddle has changed since my absence. Afterwards, we will try parts and a new chassis ».
That being said, Kidneys was not completely reassured about his return to the competition: “ I hope to be fit enough to do Assen. We will decide that with the team. After my operation, I couldn't ride a motorcycle for two weeks. It was hard. Afterwards, I trained twice as hard because to ride this kind of bike, you have to be at the top of your abilities. ».
The best place acquired this season by Alex Rins is a ninth place in Qatar. Then there was the fall of Austin which aggravated the accident suffered during the first tests of the off-season.
