Rins and Iannone positive with ‘improving’ Suzuki

The second day of testing at Chang International Circuit in Buriram was productive again for the Factory Suzuki team, with them debuting a brand new aerodynamic fairing for both riders. The Chang International Circuit is home to a 1km long back straight, giving Suzuki the ideal opportunity to put the fairing through it’s paces.

Alex Rins reported positive feelings as he felt the benefits of the new fairing, despite a crash. He completed the day’s test in 7th place, less than half a second behind the day’s fastest rider, compatriot, Marc Marquez.

“Today was a really positive test and we tried many things. We tried the new fairing in its two versions and some new parts on the chassis, which I think are really good,” began the Spaniard, starting his second season with Suzuki.

“With the new aerodynamic fairing, I felt better about the anti-wheelie. MotoGP bikes obviously have a lot of electronics but all the time that the front wheel is making contact with the track then we have more power, so it’s always better, this new fairing can help me to have more acceleration and more speed. The good thing also is that this new fairing allows me to have better anti-wheelie without major loss in the top speed.

“I had a crash during the day but luckily it was without consequences and I’m OK,” he concluded.

Andrea Iannone focused mainly on various other areas of bike set-up and finding his most comfortable settings. With 76 laps recorded, he was also able to work on tyre longevity and once again he found a strong pace on a used tyre, suggesting that over race distance, Iannone could be a podium threat. the Italian joined his teammate in the crashers club but ended the day +0.806 seconds from the top of the time sheet. The Italian was equally as positive.

“Today we took some more positive steps and I’m satisfied. We had the new aerodynamic fairing available and it gave me a positive feeling initially but I couldn’t test it properly because I crashed in the early laps on the bike that was equipped with it,” began the ex-GP winner.

“So after that we decided to give priority to other things, such as settings. Tomorrow we will try the new fairing again and we will be able to make some comparisons with the old one. Overall we are doing a good job, and the bike is behaving well with used tyres, but we have to find more performance with the new tyres.

“We will try to figure it out because over distance I feel confident and I have good pace but to have speed in a single lap is very important for qualifying. The bike is improving run after run so it gives me confidence for tomorrow.”

Tomorrow is the last day of testing before the paddock goes to Qatar at the start of March for the final pre-season tests.