Difficult day for Suzuki, whose two drivers finished FP2 (the only one in the dry) 16th and 19th with Andrea Iannone and Takuya Tsuda.
We will also notice that the Japanese driver came out of his first day in the Grand Prix more than honorably, especially compared to his experienced teammate who is not used to appearing at such depths in the rankings!
In Hamamatsu, we must regret the 2016 season where, at the same time and in the same place, Alex Espargaro et Maverick Vinales appeared third and sixth respectively…
Davide Brivio : “with weather conditions having changed between the morning and afternoon, we were only able to use one session to work on the settings for the dry, and we still have work to finalize the 'electronic. We still need to analyze the data further, which we will do this evening, to try to find a better configuration for tomorrow, with the aim of performing better in FP3. At least it seems like we took a step forward in the setup, which gave Andrea a better feeling with the front end. We will try to analyze further tomorrow, to see if this is the right way to do it. Tsuda did a good job. He debuted in both wet and dry conditions, and his performance was positive. The first day is over, but we will try to continue this improving trend tomorrow. »
Andrea Iannone : “it was not an easy day, but we tried to do our best This morning, on the wet track, I was able to improve, ride after ride, and also lap by lap. At the end, I almost gained a second on my time. In addition, the feeling with the GSX-RR has improved, and that is a positive thing. With dry conditions, we are struggling a little more, and for the moment it is not easy to obtain a satisfactory performance. I have a good idea with the chassis, but the gap to the leader is too big. We definitely need to improve, especially the electronics. I have difficulty controlling the bike during acceleration and it wastes time. I have confidence in my team and Suzuki. Hopefully we will find a good idea to improve the situation tomorrow. »
Takuya Tsuda : “since it was my dream and it came true to race in MotoGP, I am happy to have finished the first day without big problems. Because my first session was in the wet and the afternoon was dry, and I'm still learning how to ride the bike and adapt my riding style to this track, this day wasn't very easy, but I'm confident I can improve over the weekend. It was also a very good experience to have the chance to ride behind fast and experienced riders, because it was completely different from what I had seen during the winter test. Tomorrow I will discuss the settings with the team by looking at today's data, and I will continue to do my best. »
