Following Sunday’s GP of the Czech Republic, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR stayed over at the circuit of Brno for testing with Maverick Viñales and the Factory GSX-RR.

Team-mate Aleix Espargaró didn’t take part in the test, resting-up following the injury to his hand in Austria last weekend. It was agreed with the team that Espargaró headed home last night, where he will spend every day before the next round at Silverstone, in the UK on September 4th, recuperating.

The main purpose of the test for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR was to further-evaluate information about the GSX-RR and compare data with that collected during the weekend, and also explore some new configurations in the electronics. However, the dirty track conditions in the morning left too little time to test some new options in the set-up, in particular investigating the different swingarms that have been made available to the team by the Suzuki R&D Department.

Davide Brivio:

“We had a positive day of testing today, despite not being able to lap as much as we wanted; the track was very cold and dirty in the morning, so we could only exploit the afternoon session. After yesterday’s race, we decided to allow Aleix to go back home because his injured finger requires some recovery time, so we will see him again at Silverstone. Maverick, instead, lapped today and did a very good job. He couldn’t lap in the morning because of bad track conditions but finally the situation and conditions got better and better. We didn’t make very big improvements here, technically-wise, but some important fine-tunings; as this test was more meant to check some information and try different combinations of electronics and set-up. Maverick was consistently-fast throughout the afternoon and this is positive, but more-importantly is the positive feeling he reported and the feedback he left with our engineers.”

Maverick Viñales:

“Unfortunately the conditions of the track in the morning didn’t allow us to test, so we had to wait until the afternoon to have proper performance. Finally, we could only test some new options in set-up and electronics, we’re still working in the pursuit of traction and we found some new information that will be useful for Silverstone and for the rest of the season. The lap-time has been consistently positive, making our day positive. After a back-to-back race it’s hard to stay for a test, but it was worthwhile. It’s a pity about the conditions, we could have worked a little more and test some more things, but at the end of the day, the work we’ve done will be useful.”