Team Suzuki Press Office – April 21.
Andrea Iannone: P10 – 2’05.142
Alex Rins: P18 – 2’06.155
The GP of The Americas has started at the COTA circuit in Austin, Texas, with Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins having an intensive day looking for the best setup for their machines. The Italian was able to end the day in 10th place, thanks to a best lap 2’05.142, while the Spaniard is currently in 18th place with 2’06.155.
After an electronics issue that made him lose some time, Iannone was able to run many laps to gather important information that turned out to be very useful for the afternoon’s session. In fact, he found more confidence on his GSX-RR and improved the lap time, ending into the virtual Q2 bracket.
His struggle with ankle pain did not affect Rins’ performance much, as he made solid progress throughout the day. Although the morning was a little more challenging, the afternoon session was more comfortable and his performance improved. A technical failure of his GSX-RR at the early stage of the second session took some time away from him, and left him with only one machine available in the garage.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“It was a very intense day of work today, as we are still looking for a good setup and electronic configuration. Andrea improved in the afternoon and he managed to stay in the provisional Top 10. Although I believe our potential is greater, we have to finalize a better package to give him the ability to push further. With Alex, we had an issue at the beginning of FP2, when we broke an engine and this modified our program. However he was able to make improvements. He is still struggling a little with ankle pain that prevents him from fully taking advantage of the machine 100%, but he is making solid progress.”
Andrea Iannone
“Today has been a tough one. We improved from morning to afternoon, but not enough yet. It is not an easy thing. It’s a problem we’ve always had, and it is evident to a greater or lesser extent according to the circuit. We are working on it, but still I struggle. It’s something I have to adapt to. We tried to take some steps to enhance the machine, but for the moment we haven’t found the proper way forward. We improved, but not enough, so we’re back to the baseline settings. We need to further investigate tonight and hopefully find better ideas for tomorrow. I’m pretty satisfied about the hard tyres. I made good runs with them, while I still struggled with the soft ones.”
Alex Rins
“I’m positive about today. We were able to take some steps forward towards improving the bike. We have always had some issues with the setup of the front end. While here, we made some improvements on this. We focused a lot on the setup, more than on electronics, and my feel for the bike is getting better and better. We are working hard. The good thing is that little by little I’m adapting to the machine, but also the machine is adapting to me; so we are both growing fast. We need to review the data tonight to find better solutions for tomorrow. I feel good about the ankle. It hurts at some points, but I’m trying to adapt my riding style in order not to push it too much.”
GP of The Americas – Classification after day 1:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 2’04.061
2. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 2’04.347 +0.286
3. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 2’04.451 +0.390
4. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 2’04.806 +0.745
5. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 2’04.811 +0.750
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 2’04.830 +0.769
7. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 2’05.005 +0.944
8. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 2’05.033 +0.972
9. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – 2’05.116 +1.055
10. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 2’05.142 +1.081
11. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 2’05.282 +1.221
12. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – 2’05.284 +1.223
13. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 2’05.463 +1.402
14. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 2’05.468 +1.407
15. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – 2’05.584 +1.523
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 2’05.602 +1.541
17. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 2’05.943 +1.882
18. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 2’06.155 +2.094
19. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – 2’06.358 +2.297
20. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2’06.503 +2.442
21. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 2’06.709 +2.648
22. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 2’06.741 +2.680
23. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2’07.434 +3.373
