Team Suzuki Press Office – May 17.
Joan Mir: 15th – 1:32.322 (+ 0.894)
Alex Rins: 16th – 1:32.385 (+ 0.957)
• Joan Mir hovers around Top 10 during Day 1
• Alex Rins working hard to improve lap times.
• Team keen to find strong set-up for race day.
Friday’s action at the historical circuit of Le Mans saw a few struggles for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, with Joan Mir and Alex Rins both sitting outside the Top 10 at the end of the day.
In the morning’s FP1 session, rookie Mir found some good pace and placed himself just 0.640 from the top, in 8th place. The youngster felt confident and was third fastest through sector 3. Meanwhile, Rins struggled to find his rhythm and ended the session in 17th place.
During FP2 both riders worked hard to try and ensure direct passage into Q2, with track temperatures predicted to be low in FP3 tomorrow morning, making it potentially tricky to improve. Despite bettering his lap time by over a second, Rins missed out on the Top 10 when other riders went for a final push, he was 16th at the line. Mir also found improved feeling during the afternoon, but he nevertheless ended the session in 14th place.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“I think the final results don’t represent what we feel we’re capable
of. Both riders showed some good pace during the sessions, but we didn’t
get to do an effective time attack. We’ll continue to work with the
race in mind, and if the weather conditions are OK tomorrow, we hope to
improve. Anyway, we collected a lot of useful information today.”
Joan Mir
“I’m quite happy about today, unfortunately I didn’t reach my goal of
getting directly into Q2, but despite that I feel quite confident and I
feel that my pace is not bad. I’m still missing that really fast lap,
but I hope to get a good grid position tomorrow. If it’s wet it will be a new experience for me.”
Alex Rins
“We tried a lot of things today, some different tyre combinations and
some adjustments with the set-up. But this track always produces tight
lap times, with many riders running very close together. I’m not so far
off but I’m down in 16th place, I’m just a tenth of a second from 10th
position, so I still feel that things are going in a good way. I’m not
too concerned about riding in Q1 if I have to.”
GP of France – Combined Classification after Day 1:
1. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’31.428 (FP2)
2. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’31.618 0.190 / 0.190 (FP2)
3. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1’31.713 0.285 / 0.095 (FP2)
4. Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team 1’31.716 0.288 / 0.003 (FP2)
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’31.736 0.308 / 0.020 (FP2)
6. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1’31.899 0.471 / 0.163 (FP2)
7. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’31.923 0.495 / 0.024 (FP2)
8. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’32.132 0.704 / 0.209 (FP2)
9. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’32.203 0.775 / 0.071 (FP2)
10. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing 1’32.238 0.810 / 0.035 (FP1)
11. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1’32.239 0.811 / 0.036 (FP2)
12. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1’32.270 0.842 / 0.031 (FP2)
13. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 1’32.285 0.857 / 0.015 (FP2)
14. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’32.320 0.892 / 0.035 (FP2)
15. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’32.322 0.894 / 0.002 (FP2)
16. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’32.385 0.957 / 0.063 (FP2)
17. Johann ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’32.574 1.146 / 0.001 (FP2)
18. Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing 1’32.999 1.571 / 0.425 (FP2)
19. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’33.141 1.713 / 0.142 (FP2)
20. Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1’33.401 1.973 / 0.260 (FP2)
21. Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1’33.431 2.003 / 0.030 (FP2)
22. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1’33.903 2.475 / 0.472 (FP2)
