Team Suzuki Press Office – June 23.
Andrea Iannone: 17th – 1’34.617 / +1.487
Alex Rins: 19th – 1’34.923 / +1.793
The first day at the TT Circuit in Assen for the DutchGP saw both of the Suzuki GSX-RR´s end the day pretty far from the top, with Andrea Iannone in 17th place (best time: 1’34.617) and Alex Rins in 19th for his comeback (1’34.923 for him).
Different reasons led to this result: the morning had been a positive one for Andrea, displaying a good deal of confidence and feel for the bike, but then bad luck in the afternoon prevented Iannone from improving his time. His second machine had a stop early on which compromised the possibility of testing the improvements in the setup that the team had applied to it. The technical failure is now under investigation by the engineers, and the new setup will be tested again tomorrow morning.
Alex Rins for his part had only one objective: to test his physical conditioning in order to get back the feeling with the GSX-RR. After the Medical Team declared him fit to race yesterday, the long recovery time that took him away from the circuits for the last eight weeks had to be sloughed away. His feel for the bike was good, meaning that tomorrow he will be able to start working on the bike to find a better setup and hopefully be more competitive.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“In the morning we had a good start with Andrea, but then unfortunately in the afternoon we couldn’t complete the work we had planned with the two different machines, and so we couldn’t check if our improvements were as effective as we thought. The result was below expectations, but we still believe the improvements can be effective, so tomorrow morning we will start from there and try to improve. Let’s hope for a dry session so that we can test in the same conditions of today, although some rain is forecasted. It was a positive day for Alex; we only wanted him to get back on the bike to find his feel and pace. We weren’t expecting him to be competitive right away, and we want to give him all the time he needs to recover. Nonetheless, his day was positive and tomorrow we will start to modify the setup.”
Andrea Iannone
“This morning was very positive; I had a good feeling and I was able to push harder. In the afternoon we decided to start with the same configuration to double check, and we got our confirmation. Then I tried to go out with another setup on the other GSX-RR, but unfortunately we had a technical problem that stopped the bike in my second lap, so I had to switch back to the standard setup. This prevented me from improving on the lap time. Tomorrow morning we will continue working and hopefully find the improvements we think may come from this new configuration.”
Alex Rins
“Today for me was a really positive day as I was able to test my arm after the injury, and I didn’t have any problems. This means that tomorrow I can work more intensively on the setup and try to find a good configuration for the GSX-RR, improving the lap time but also trying to get a good position on the grid.”
GP of The Netherlands – Combined classification after Day 1:
1. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’33.130
2. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’33.497 +0.367
3. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1’33.782 +0.652
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 1’33.790 +0.660
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 1’33.828 +0.698
6. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’33.830 +0.700
7. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – 1’33.890 +0.760
8. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’33.986 +0.856
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1’34.103 +0.973
10. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 1’34.148 +1.018
11. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1’34.299 +1.169
12. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1’34.337 +1.207
13. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1’34.491 +1.361
14. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 1’34.523 +1.393
15. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – 1’34.596 +1.466
16. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – 1’34.605 +1.475
17. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’34.617 +1.487
18. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – 1’34.759 +1.629
19. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’34.923 +1.793
20. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1’35.039 +1.909
21. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1’35.185 +2.055
22. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1’35.373 +2.243
23. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1’36.334 +3.204
