Suzuki continue to test in Japan

Randy De Puniet has been in action with Suzuki testing their new MotoGP machine.
Randy De Puniet has been in action with Suzuki testing their new MotoGP machine.

With all the excitement surrounding Casey Stoner’s MotoGP test, it was easy to forget that Suzuki and Randy De Puniet joined them in Motegi.

Suzuki were testing as they continued their preparation for when they make their MotoGP return in 2015.

As with Honda and Stoner, Suzuki had their first day severly effected by poor weather, but with improved weather today, it was a productive day for Suzuki.

Suzuki’s special test rider Randy de Puniet was on hand for the test, and despite two slow speed crashes in the morning, De Puniet had a productive afternoon where he tested a new chassis.

The new chassis was the one that Suzuki now want to continue working with, and was chosen due to enhanced edge grip and stability.

Suzuki did release some test times, and de Puniet’s best lap time was a 1.48.60, which is slightly slower than his test times at Motegi earlier in the yet, but followed the times set but other riders in the more humid conditions. In spite of this, it was still around three seconds off the time set by Casey Stoner last season.

Speaking after the test, De Puniet said: “In this test we were not so lucky with the weather, as yesterday we stayed in the pit all day. Also, the track was slippery and very hot today, so the grip wasn’t very good, but we found a good direction with one of the chassis configurations we had available.

“I found one with better tyre contact feeling and better for corner-entry, so we will continue with this in Misano next month. The rain came before the end of the test and I couldn’t try to improve my lap time, but overall we are very satisfied.”

Davide Brivio who is overseeing all the Suzuki’s MotoGP testing was also present in Japan, and today he said: “Today was another good day in our development programme,” stated Suzuki MotoGP Test Team manager Davide Brivio. “We had a chance to try different tests with various settings and we tried to better understand the bike’s behaviour in different conditions.

“Despite difficult weather conditions, we had a chance to choose one of the two frames available, which we will carry on to develop further in future tests. In the meantime, our engineers have taken some good information away with them for the next stage of development.”

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