Until then, the Suzuki's Achilles heel lay in the qualifying phase, the one which opens the hunt for the time over one lap. But now, on the evening of this Saturday in Qatar, we have two GSX-RRs at the head of the debates, separated by only two thousandths, and their performances were achieved in the final phase. Enough to worry the competition, but Álex Rins who narrowly saved the honor in his box against his teammate Joan Mir does not only thank Suzuki...
If everything seems to be going better at Yamaha , the danger this year may rather come from the side of Suzuki… Already, during the last tests in Malaysia, the GSX-RR had shown themselves in a favorable light. But on the Losail route, the improvement seems more confirmed: “ it was a positive day at work ”, soberly declared Alex Rins Saturday evening in Doha. That being said, at 0,002 seconds, the joy would have been less strong, since his teammate Joan mir would have been leader.
« It was a good day, we tried a lot of things, but nothing new. We only retested things we had with us at Sepang. And I'm quite happy because it seems like everything will work fine on another track “, declared the double winner of the 2019 season.
However, one question has not yet been fully answered by Suzuki: " tomorrow will be a difficult day because we are comparing a new chassis with the standard chassis we used last year. We need to keep our concentration high to see if it works better or not ", found Kidneys. Incidentally, he set his best time on Saturday with the new chassis.
« The feeling is positive », confirmed the 24-year-old Spaniard. “ Finally, I went out to the track with the standard chassis. Honestly, it's not 0,2 seconds faster, it's more the feeling that's a little better for me. I would definitely like a second comparison, but we will test it intensively tomorrow. »
« For me, with the new tires you have more grip on the edge of the tire. It's good for uss,” said Kidneys showing the new Michelin rear tire. “ I'm happy because I was able to set the best lap time in the last few minutes, with the humidity and the lower temperatures. » He finally ends with his overall performance: “ I think it comes from the tires. »
MotoGP Test Qatar J1: times
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
