During 6 days on the track, Sylvain covered more than 300 laps of the Sepang circuit, and more than 2000 km. Guintoli achieved his new personal best time on the Malaysian track in 2'00.990, alongside development drivers from other manufacturers, and even several permanent drivers.
At Suzuki, Álex Rins ranked 12th and Joan Mir 10th. Is it worrying one month before the first Grand Prix in Qatar?
“No, on the contrary, we worked very well during these six days in total. The weather is not always favorable on this circuit, and it is difficult to organize a long session of six days, in order to be able to cope with all the weather conclusions. »
On the other hand, if we took the average of the 20 best laps over these 3 days of testing, we obtained: Rins 1'59.4, Viñales 1'59.5, Dovi 1'59.8, Márquez 1'59.8, Crutchlow 1'59.8 and Rossi 1 '59.9. It’s much better for Álex Rins.
« Alex Rins has indeed been very regular, and always very fast. He is capable of doing long runs of good quality. We understand that others may worry and ask questions. He is a very competent driver of the future who will be talked about in the years to come.
Rins also had the highest percentage of laps under two minutes and one second (2'1). Is this also a good sign?
“He is comfortable in most situations, has confidence in himself, is competent and has a good bike and a good team. »
Álex Rins competed in his first Grand Prix in MotoGP at 21, Joan Mir will do it at 21 too, and you started at 20 in Brno with the Yamaha Tech 3. You knew that you started younger in MotoGP than your Spanish teammates?
“Ah, that’s funny, I didn’t realize that. But that goes back to 2002, you're right. I will surprise them...
Joan Mir ranked 2nd rookies (15th) ahead of Fabio Quartararo (16th) and Miguel Oliveira (19th). It was a little far from Francesco Bagnaia (2nd). Was there a reason?
“You have to be very careful when analyzing these times. The weather conditions varied a lot and the track conditions were therefore not always the same at the time we rode. Several drivers achieved their fastest lap in 1'59 at the end of the morning, around 11 a.m., and we therefore have to take a step back because this is the hottest time. All these times should be taken with a pinch of salt. »
Photos © Suzuki Racing
