Team Suzuki Press Office – April 20thTeam SUZUKI ECSTAR’s Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales raced to seventh and 10th positions respectively in the GP of Argentina, securing important points and collecting feedback for continued-development of the new GSX-RR.
In only the third race in the 2015 MotoGP season, both its riders showed how far the team has come at the early stages of the 18-round championship.
The Argentinian weekend was very positive overall, with both riders fast in all practice sessions and finally achieving the positive results of Viñales progressing directly to the Q2 session and Espargaro second overall in qualifying. Such steady steps forward are part of the philosophy of the Team, both on the racetracks and in Japan, and these results show the positivity of the project.
After three races overseas it’s now time to go back to the European tracks; the first in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain on Sunday May 3rd.
Satoru Terada – Team Director:
“This was the third race for us and again we go back home with positives and negatives. We have clear realisations that we have some issues with chattering. We have tried many different solutions in Austin and also here, but we couldn’t solve it in a racing situation. The engineers in Japan are already working with our data and feedback. Now we go back to the Factory and will develop some solutions to be applied hopefully immediately in Jerez. But we must also be happy for the weekend here in Argentina. Aleix finished second in qualifying and Maverick entered directly into Q2. These results are in-line with our expectations and we must be proud of them. For this I want to say thank you to the riders, who put a lot of effort in – and to all the team here in Termas de Rio Hondo – as well as our engineers in Japan. These results also confirm that the project course of this bike is good. Of course we need to improve it and make it more competitive but I’m confident about the potential overall.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“It’s been a tough race, unfortunately I finished seventh after being in second place on the grid. This is not what we were hoping or expecting for. We are afflicted by some issues at the rear from the beginning and we need to fix them to be more competitive. For sure this seventh place doesn’t pay justice to the positive that we had this weekend and this is why I am a little disappointed after the race. We have transferred a lot of feedback to the engineers, therefore I hope we will get some improvement in the European races. So far we are too-far from the top than we actually deserve.”
Maverick Viñales:
“I was hoping for a better result in the race according to the progress I made this weekend, including my direct access to Q2. Unfortunately I had a bad feeling with the tyres in the early laps so I could not be as effective as I wanted, but then unexpectedly the feeling got better and better as the tyres got more worn, so at the end of the race I was lapping at nearly the same times as the race leaders. For sure we take comfort from this, because it means that we have a good machine. We need to improve in the qualifying session and also in the set-up for the race. But once again, being in the top-10 is a positive result we must be proud of.”
GP of Argentina – Final classification:
1. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 41’35.644
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – +5.685
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, CWM LCR Honda – +8.298
4. Andrea IANNONE, Ducati Team – +8.352
5. Jorge LORENZO, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – +10.192
6. Bradley SMITH, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – +19.876
7. Aleix ESPARGARO, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +24.333
8. Pol ESPARGARO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – +27.670
9. Scott REDDING, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – +34.397
10. Maverick VIÑALES, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +34.808
Riders World Championship after GP of Argentina:
1. Valentino ROSSI – 66
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO – 60
3. Andrea IANNONE – 40
4. Jorge LORENZO – 37
5. Marc MARQUEZ – 36
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW – 34
7. Bradley SMITH – 28
8. Aleix ESPARGARO (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) – 22
9. Pol ESPARGARO – 15
10. Maverick VIÑALES (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 15
