Suzuki MotoGP testing on track

Following-on from last week's three-day test at Misano, test riders Randy de Puniet and Nobuatsu Aoki appraised and made further improvements to the Suzuki's engine over the Tuesday and Wednesday test session at Mugello.

Revisions to improve top speed consisted of a redesigned engine cowling, the fitment of which showed no negative effects under different circuit conditions. Additionally, newly-elected chassis design and electronics have been claimed to provide better traction control and engine braking.

Back-to-back tests at Misano and Mugello provided more data that the machine has improved its braking and corner-entry characteristics. The team also found a new direction in finding better rear grip; an area that the Test Team will look at further developing during the next few months and into 2014.

With a dry track and temperatures ranging between 20-36 degrees Celsius on both days, de Puniet put in 67 laps on the opening day and Aoki ten. De Puniet's best lap was a 1'50.080 on Tuesday and today he improved his best time to 1'49.260 after a total of 53 laps of the 5.245km circuit.

"Over these two long days we've worked a lot on the electronic mapping in different situations. We also understand that we need to work more on rear grip," said Randy de Puniet.

"We expected Mugello to be a difficult track and from this test we gave a lot of information to the engineers, which they can now work on. I'm a little sad that this was the last test for this season, as I've enjoyed riding this bike and working with the Suzuki Factory Team. I hope I will have more opportunities to ride again in the future and to continue improving this bike."

Suzuki MotoGP Test Team Manager Davide Brivio commented: "It was another busy test in which we again gave good information to our staff. We had some positive confirmation on a few new parts that we had a chance to test in-depth, such as the new frame, the new engine and the new cowling.

"Of course we also found points that need to be improved and now we have more information, some further directions and also some homework to do. Randy has helped us a lot, even if at some times we've had to ask him for such a big effort between his regular MotoGP races. I would like to thank Randy very much for his contribution in finding strong and weak points of our project. His comments were - and will be - important for the development work we have ahead of us in the coming months. I would also like to thank the Aspar Team which allowed Randy to be available for this testing activity.

"The team staff were also great and I'm happy that we will continue this testing job together next year as well. Now we go back testing to Japan and looking forward to the next opportunity where we will be again on the track with the other strong MotoGP competitors."

Suzuki MotoGP Project Leader Satoru Terada added: "We concluded today's European testing for this year, with which we have visited several circuits to find the weak points of our bike.

"A fast rider like Randy helped us in better understanding the level of our machine right now and so we can go back to Japan to look for the solutions. We have several directions where we can work on now and I'm very pleased that we have been able to run for many miles on-track without any trouble on the bike; this is very positive, looking at the future for our racing activity."

Images: motogp.com