Maverick Viñales scored a brilliant result at his home MotoGP race for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR at the Circuit Catalunya-Barcelona today with a hard-fought fourth position aboard his GSX-RR.

The 21-year-old Spaniard set a blistering pace from the start, moving-up to fifth from his sixth-placed grid position, to hound the leading pack in the early stages, as he lapped even faster than the leaders: In his fifth lap he scored the new circuit record with the stunning 1'45.971, but as the chase to the podium positions was very demanding for the tyres, this forced him to reserve wear and settle for the fourth position.

Team-mate Aleix Espargaró, unfortunately suffered with electronic issues. After the normal tyres dropped, the issue became too prevalent and he had to pull-out of his home race with seven laps to go.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR will now stay one more day in Catalunya for a session of IRTA tests tomorrow where technicians will verify the data collected over the weekend and prepare for the upcoming races; working particularly with the evolution chassis and fine-tuning of electronics.