Team Suzuki Press Office – May 15th A relatively cold Le Mans welcomed the Team SUZUKI ECSTAR riders for the first day of the French GP weekend and the first two sessions of practice today saw Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales work intensively to get the best feeling with the track ahead of Sunday’s race.
Both riders are starting from very different attitudes as they approach the weekend’s racing around this tight and technical circuit: Espargaro isn’t a big fan of the circuit while Viñales is looking forward to the race.
The morning session went pretty smooth for both riders, constantly improving their lap-times while testing the improvements introduced following the test in Jerez. The electronics and general set-up modifications delivered effective and good-performing machines in terms of handling and braking, thus giving positive feelings to Espargaro and Viñales.
The conditions of the track, due to the cold weather, eventually resulted in one crash for each rider in FP2, fortunately without major damage. This prevented them making a proper attack on the timesheets with a fast, single lap. This eventually resulted in Espargaro in ninth place with time of 1’33.944 and Viñales 12th with a 1’34.110s lap.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“The day got a little complicated because of the two crashes, because then we couldn’t finish the job we were supposed to do. However we got a positive result after a hard day, given the cold conditions of the Tarmac. Aleix couldn’t exploit the soft tyre for the fast-lap attack but he has a good pace and we are probably close to a good base for the set-up for the race. Maverick was trying something different as well therefore the crash interrupted him. The positive thing is that we have collected important information during the day and now we will fix the bikes and also try to introduce some improvements for tomorrow. Our objective is of course entering Q2 with both riders.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“I’m happy for the first day since this isn’t a track I like so much; last year I struggled as well so I’m happy for the feeling I had today with the bike. I feel confident with my GSX-RR, it has a very good handling and you can push the bike under hard braking, which is good for this track. Unfortunately I couldn’t exploit the soft tyre for getting a better position: This morning it was too cold and we decided to go for it in the afternoon. Meanwhile in second session I had a crash just on the second lap with the soft tyre. On this track it’s hard to warm-up the tyres so the grip was not optimal and finally I had a crash. However, with the hard tyre, I have a good pace so tomorrow I’ll try a better attack in the qualifying.”
Maverick Viñales:
“It was a positive first day, the only mistake was the crash. In these conditions you try to push harder and harder and sometimes it happens that you lose the front. Unfortunately this probably stopped us a little bit on the last few minutes for going for the quick lap for the 10th position. I feel very confident in sectors one and two, while I need to find better lines in the second half of the track; also the feeling on the brakes is something we can improve. Despite this I think we can be pretty happy, we have a good bike here – also with the medium tyre – so I feel good. Tomorrow we have to finalise the set-up and to work better with the front tyre.”
GP of France – Combined classification after FP2:
1. Bradley SMITH, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’33.179
2. Jorge LORENZO, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’33.369 +0.190
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 1’33.553 +0.374
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, CWM LCR Honda – 1’33.652 +0.473
5. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1’33.670 +0.491
6. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’33.686 +0.507
7. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 1’33.725 +0.546
8. Pol ESPARGARO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’33.903 +0.724
9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’33.944 +0.765
10. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Pramac Racing – 1’33.953 +0.774
11. Andrea IANNONE, Ducati Team – 1’34.092 +0.913
12. Maverick VIÑALES, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’34.110 +0.931
