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2017 TESTING AT VALENCIA -MotoGP

KUCIAR666

Registered User
SUZUKI ECSTAR KICKS-OFF 2017 TESTING AT VALENCIA


Andrea Iannone ? 7th.
Alex Rins ? 21st.

The 2017 MotoGP? season kicked-off today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain with the first test of the season held right after the season finale at the Spanish circuit.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR revealed their new riders Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins, who joined the crew to have a first taste of the Suzuki GSX-RRs. The main purpose of the opening day of the two-day official test allowed the riders to get their first feelings with their machines, starting from actual set-up as a base to start working on for the future.

Today started slowly, with a very cold temperature at the track and the need to understand the new bikes before starting to push for real. Under these conditions, Iannone took advantage of his experience and after a first run of adaptation he could start to apply some modifications in the set-up and electronic configuration, progressively improving his performance. He incurred a crash in middle of the afternoon, without any injury, during this process of improvement and he still remained in the top-part of the timing sheets for the whole day, ending in seventh position.

MotoGP? Rookie Rins had to start feeling the Factory GSX-RR?s behaviour without electronic controls, and then to start using them to understand how they change the potential riding characteristics and today has been a step-by-step approach, allowing him to take all the time he needed to get acquainted with the bike.

Together with Suzuki?s new 2017 Factory riders, Japanese Suzuki Test Team Rider Takuya Tsuda flew into Valencia to start testing various improvements that may be applied to the Factory machines in the future, if their effectiveness is confirmed in this and further tests.

Davide Brivio ? Team Manager:

?I?d say this has been a good start of the 2017 season with both our new riders. Of course they had a different schedule and working plan, as their experience is very different. Andrea wanted to see how our machine is performing and find a comfortable position and base set-up, but also we were curious to hear his comments and first impressions. We were happy to hear that he liked the machine, he said he felt at ease on it, and he has already given us some areas on which we will have to work to improve. We will, of course, try to follow his feedback.

?Rins had a different objective: His priority was to get the first feeling with a MotoGP machine, him being a debutant in this class, and we are very happy because he is learning the process needed to ride such a kind of bike; he?s making the right steps, so we start with him a path that we will bring on. We have plans for tomorrow to explore some more options, he?s a very smart guy, very focused, and he seems to be quick in learning. It?s been a positive start with both riders; it?s only the first day so we will continue tomorrow with the scheduled working plan.?

Marco Rigamonti ? Iannone?s Crew Chief:

?This has been a positive first day for us, it was mainly intended to get the first feeling with the machine, to start knowing the mechanics of the new crew and to get a first feeling on the potential of the machine. Andrea reported to me very positive feelings, we?ve worked intensively with hard-tyre testing, also how the bike reacts with the tyres dropping; and in fact, the best time came with pretty-worn tyres.

?Andrea started with winglets to have a first touch of the machine as it was - and then we took them away, as they are forbidden in 2017. The first runs were to get to know the machine, but he could immediately appreciate the effectiveness of the project and then already start to give us and the engineers some areas to work on. The good thing is that all the improvements he saw as possible are little steps, as the base-setting made him already feel confident and comfortable.?

Alex Rins:

?This day has been a very emotional one for me. My priority, as agreed with Suzuki, was just to get a first taste of the machine, which is obviously very different from any machines I?ve ridden before. The most impressive thing, in my opinion, is the acceleration, which is really impressive. Today we started with the basic set-up and our plan was to start without any electronic control so that I could understand the machine?s performance without any filters. Then we gradually introduced some traction control and anti-wheeling, so that I could start to understand how the electronics-settings worked. The team gave me total support; everything is new and at a top level and I?m really enthusiastic of this first experience.?

Classification of Day 1 at Valencia Test:

1. Maverick VI?ALES ? Movistar Yamaha MotoGP ? 1'30.930
2. Valentino ROSSI ? Movistar Yamaha MotoGP ? 1'30.950 + 0.020
3. Jorge LORENZO ? Ducati Team ? 1'31.052 + 0.122
4. Marc MARQUEZ ? Repsol Honda Team ? 1'31.102 + 0.172
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO ? Ducati Team - 1'31.131 + 0.201
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW ? LCR Honda - 1'31.156 + 0.226
7. Andrea IANNONE ? Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'31.165 + 0.235
8. Scott REDDING ? OCTO Pramac Yakhnich - 1'31.242 + 0.312
9. Hector BARBERA ? Avintia Racing - 1'31.286 + 0.356
10. Dani PEDROSA ? Repsol Honda Team - 1'31.306 + 0.376
11. Jack MILLER ? Marc VDS Racing Team - 1'31.477 + 0.547
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA ? Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.674 + 0.744
13. Michele PIRRO ? OCTO Pramac Yakhnich - 1'32.068 + 1.138
14. Aleix ESPARGARO ? Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'32.177 + 1.247
15. Loris BAZ ? Avintia Racing - 1'32.315 +1.385
16. Jonas FOLGER ? Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.450 +1.520
17. Johann ZARCO ? Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.462 +1.532
18. Tito RABAT ? EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'32.578 +1.648
19. Pol ESPARGARO ? Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'32.613 +1.683
20. Bradley SMITH ? Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'32.806 +1.876
21. Alex RINS ? Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'32.811 +1.881
22. Eugene LAVERTY ? Aprilia Test Team - 1'32.935 +2.005
23 17 Karel ABRAHAM ? Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'33.231 +2.301
24. Sam LOWES ? Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'33.359 +2.429
25. Takuya TSUDA ? Suzuki Test Team - 1'34.110 +3.180
26. Francesco BAGNAIA ? Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'36.940 +6.010
 

KUCIAR666

Registered User
Vi?ales and Rossi Top First 2017 MotoGP IRTA Testing Day in Valencia

Maverick Vi?ales kicked off the 2017 MotoGP pre-season testing in Valencia on a positive note, finishing first in today's session timesheets, 0.020s ahead of Valentino Rossi in second place.

Though the main goal of today's outing for Vi?ales was to get a feel for his new bike, he didn't waste time to make a statement. The Spaniard started his test around eleven o'clock and only took half an hour to ride to second place and continued to be in the top six throughout his morning run. He kept the momentum going during his afternoon stint and showed his confidence posting a 1'30.930s on lap 55 to take over first place from Rossi. The 21-year-old completed 61 laps in total and wrapped up the day of testing leading the way.

Rossi had a mixed but ultimately successful day of testing. He was quickly on the pace in the morning on his 2016 bike and topped the standings after his 11th lap, clocking a 1'30.950s, which was only bettered by Vi?ales later in the afternoon when the temperatures rose. Despite suffering a crash on lap 32 in turn 10, he walked away unharmed and started the Valencia test with a positive feeling overall. The Italian spent his afternoon session preparing for next year's season. He completed 47 laps in total and finished in second place in today's testing results, just 0.020s off the front.

Tomorrow Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will be back at the Ricardo Tormo track to continue their testing programme.

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
"Today has been a momentous occasion and a promising start to the first pre-season MotoGP IRTA test. Maverick made his first kilometres on the Yamaha and, just like we expected, he has taken to the bike very well. He used today just to get a feel for the YZR-M1. Valentino was very quick this morning on his 2016 bike. It was unfortunate that his crash on the bike with the 2017 frame lost us some time, because the damage was quite substantial, but the main thing is that Vale is OK. Later in the afternoon he resumed his testing plan and the feedback we got from him is very clear, so overall we are satisfied with how the test has started and with our progress so far."
Valentino Rossi
2nd, 1'30.950, 11/47 laps


"It was a positive day, because I'm second and the lap time was not so bad, but I did it with the old bike. With the new chassis the first feeling was OK, but after unfortunately I crashed because I put the hard tyre on the front, which on the right side doesn't give enough grip for our bike. I damaged the bike and I didn't have enough time to try it again, so now the guys are working and I will try the new chassis some other time tomorrow and we will see."
Positive beginning to Tech3 chapter for Folger and Zarco

The all new 2017 Monster Yamaha Tech3 line up got straight to work today at the post-Valencia GP test where they made their highly anticipated debuts on the Yamaha YZR-M1. Jonas Folger impressively finished the opening shakedown as the fastest rookie and ahead of some vastly experienced MotoGP riders, with a personal best time that was only 1.520 from the top. Meanwhile, the exciting French talent of Johann Zarco also rode at a notable pace and he finished just 0.012 behind his teammate as he got to up to speed with the premier class machine. The final day of testing will commence tomorrow where both rookies will continue to gather knowledge of the bike that they will contest next season with.

Jonas Folger
16th, 1'32.450, 51/52 laps


"I'm very happy about my debut on the Yamaha because it was an exciting moment and overall, a great experience. Of course, the first outing was special and there was a large amount of information to absorb, but I started to get used to the YZR-M1 quite quickly and I've already learnt a lot. In addition, the team was also really helpful and they told me about what I had to change on the bike. The main goal was just to begin adapting to the Yamaha and to the MotoGP riding style, but we are all pleased about the progress. The thing that surprised me the most was the smoothness of the engine with all of that power and also the top speed, which is incredible. The bike is very impressive and it was fun to ride with such a strong yet controllable engine. Tomorrow, I aim to carry on from where we stopped but first, this evening I will study all of the data and then start comparing myself to some other riders. In addition, when I get back on the track, I will continue familiarising myself with the bike, and then we may possibly begin adjusting it later in the day."
Johann Zarco
17th, 1'32.462, 59/61 laps


"My debut on a MotoGP bike was very interesting, however, it was a bit tricky because I had to get used to a new motorcycle after many years in the Moto2 class. There is a lot to learn and many factors that I have to adapt to. My approach to this is to take everything step by step because of course, I will not be able to change in one session and I will need some time to comprehend everything. I am making progress and we finished in not a bad way at the end of the day and so this is the positive point. The Tech3 team understand my style of riding and I can see that with the YZR-M1, there are some really specific things that need to be undertaken in order to be fast. I have gained a lot of knowledge, but it will take time to improve and to adapt the bike, when necessary, to my style. It was a positive first day, but slightly more challenging than what I was expecting."
 

KUCIAR666

Registered User
SUZUKI ECSTAR COMPLETES FIRST 2017 TEST AT VALENCIA


The opening MotoGP? test of 2017 has been completed at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia with the first appearance of Suzuki?s new Factory riders, Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins; and after the positive outcome of yesterday, today was more complicated for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR due to crashes from both riders.

First was Rins, who fell this morning at turn 12 because of the loss of the front-end on his GSX-RR. After a first check on-track, he was transferred to the circuit?s ?Medical Center? for further checks, where he complained of a lot of pain. For this reason, he was transferred to ?Hospital 9 de Octubre? in Valencia for further investigation. He hasn?t suffered major injuries, but he has lesions on thoracic vertebra T8 and T12. He will now remain in hospital for further medical checks and will probably be transferred to Barcelona tomorrow for further medical checks, but his injury is likely to force the young Spaniard to take a month off.

A similar crash at the same spot affected Iannone?s performance, and he suffered pain to his right elbow. But his determination to get back to testing the new machine helped him overcome this; although his performance was not at 100%. Despite this, he completed many laps in the afternoon and gave important feedback to the engineers and his crew that will be helpful to determine the future-development of the Factory GSX-RR and preparation for next week?s test.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR will have a private testing session at Jerez, from Wednesday to Friday, deploying Andrea Iannone and Suzuki Test Team Rider Takuya Tsuda.

Ken Kawauchi ? Technical Manager:

?Today has been a tough day, as both riders crashed, and especially Rins had some serious problems as a result, which makes us sad. Going back to yesterday, he did a positive job, he only needed to gain the confidence with his machine and he has already made some progress. Also, Iannone had a crash today, which caused some delays in our working-schedule, but luckily he didn?t suffer any major injuries. Overall, these two days have been positive because his feeling in general about our machine is better than my concerns, and we could already clearly-find which areas we have to work on to improve. He proved to be a very fast rider, we already knew it, but it?s good to find a confirmation in this. Now we will test more in Jerez next week to collect as much information and feedback to work with over the Winter.?

Davide Brivio ? Team Manager:

?Overall the test was quite positive but today we had some incidents that interrupted the working plan. Alex crashed this morning and suffered a crush in a couple of vertebra and it seems he should rest for at least three weeks or one month. He will not be at Jerez next week for the private test so we should wait until Sepang. It?s a pity because we have lost a bit of time, but the important thing now is he rests as much as possible. Now we wish him the best recovery and we will meet him again in Sepang.

?Both crashes today were quite similar, but in Alex?s case he took the line where it seems there was a lot of rubber and as soon as he touched the brake he crashed. It was even more strange with Iannone?s crash because he was riding so slow. This incident complicated our working plan a bit, but later-on he could ride again and we were able to get some good information ahead of the private test in Jerez next week.?

Marco Rigamonti ? Iannone?s Crew Chief:

?This test has been very positive for us, as Andrea reported very good feelings and could already give important feedback to Suzuki about the areas to improve on. Today he had a crash in the morning, which resulted in some pain to his right elbow. This prevented him pushing 100%, but he managed to do many laps and confirm his positive impressions from yesterday. He reported to have a very good feeling with the corner-speed and the general balance of the machine, as well as he appreciated the extremely-positive handling. We will now focus to improve the traction and acceleration, especially at the first touch of the throttle, and to further-investigate the potential of the electronics. The whole crew is very dedicated to Andrea; they are all keen to listen and understand his feedback and requests and we?re pretty confident they will manage to fulfil his desires. This also contributed to making him feel at ease in the garage during these first two days and we are all eager to go testing in Jerez next week.?

Michele Zasa - Clinica Mobile Medical Co-ordinator:

?Alex Rins suffered this morning a crash and he was moved straight after to the ?Medical Center? in the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. He was conscious all the time and he could move both arms and legs and was just complaining with back pain. So, because of that he was moved to the ?Hospital 9 de Octubre? in Valencia and he underwent a few exams including a CT Scan and an MRI. Specifically, from these examinations it came out there were lesions on thoracic vertebra T8 and T12 because of the injury, but fortunately the lesion didn?t affect the spine. Alex is at the hospital now waiting for neurosurgical consultation and afterwards we will try to organise the transfer to Barcelona where he will be visited by the medical team in Hospital ?Clinica Dexeus?.?

Alex Rins:

?It was a pity to crash early today because I was eager to improve the feeling with the bike and we were following the correct work-plan with the team. I?m disappointed because this test was important to find out the first impressions and to get confidence with the bike, but unfortunately we can?t change what was happened. Now it?s time to come back home, take some rest; and then think about the pre-season. I would like to thank all the Team SUZUKI ECSTAR members for the kindness to me during these set-up days and for all the work they did to show me the best way to kick-off in the MotoGP world.?


Classification of Day 2 at Valencia Test:

1. Maverick VI?ALES - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'29.975
2. Marc MARQUEZ - Repsol Honda Team - 1'30.171 + 0.196
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - Ducati Team - 1'30.443 + 0.468
4. Andrea IANNONE - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'30.599 + 0.624
5. Dani PEDROSA - Repsol Honda Team - 1'30.686 + 0.711
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW - LCR Honda - 1'30.709 + 0.734
7. Valentino ROSSI - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'30.709 + 0.734
8. Jorge LORENZO - Ducati Team - 1'30.744 + 0.769
9. Aleix ESPARGARO - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'30.885 + 0.910
10. Jonas FOLGER - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'30.948 + 0.973
11. Johann ZARCO - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'31.015 + 1.040
12. Jack MILLER - Marc VDS Racing Team - 1'31.069 + 1.094
13. Scott REDDING - OCTO Pramac Yakhnich - 1'31.118 + 1.143
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA - Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.186 + 1.211
15. Hector BARBERA - Avintia Racing - 1'31.244 + 1.269
16. Michele PIRRO - OCTO Pramac Yakhnich ? 1?31.816 +1.841
17. Pol ESPARGARO - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1:31.853 +1.878/ 70
18. Tito RABAT - EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1:31.918 +1.943
19. Loris BAZ - Avintia Racing - 1:32.161 +2.186
20. Bradley SMITH - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1:32.538 +2.563/ 59
21. Eugene LAVERTY - Aprilia Test Team - 1:32.568 +2.593
22. Karel ABRAHAM - Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1:32.699 +2.724
23. Takuya TSUDA - Suzuki Test Team ? 1?33.305 +3.330
24. Alex RINS - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'33.761 + 3.786
 

KUCIAR666

Registered User
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Conclude Valencia Test On Top

Maverick Vi?ales maintained his key protagonist status during the second day of testing at the Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo. The Spaniard was the only rider to drop under the 1'30s mark to top the standings for the second day in succession. Valentino Rossi also made strides today under the Valencian sun and spent the afternoon testing the new 2017 chassis and engine and set the seventh fastest time.

Maverick Vi?ales and Valentino Rossi were back on the Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo to continue their 2017 MotoGP testing programme.

Despite having to sit out one hour in the pit box during this second day of testing after the session was red flagged due to two crashes from other riders in turn 12, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team were able to made the most of the perfect riding conditions at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and assembled useful data.

Maverick Vi?ales again eagerly entered the track in the morning and was immediately on the pace. Upon his return in the afternoon he focused on bettering his bike's set-up and posted an impressive 1'30.930s on lap 25, for third place, but he was far from done. The 21-year-old rider's energy was seemingly inexhaustible as he rode a total of 76 laps and became the first rider to drop under the 1'30s with a stunning 1'29.975s on his 66th lap, 0.196s faster than his closest rival.

Valentino Rossi joined the Spaniard later in the day, heading out on track in the afternoon. It only took the nine-time World Champion 13 laps to set a 1'30.893s, enough to shoot him up the rankings to second. The Doctor preferred to spend his time on testing the new chassis and engine for the 2017 YZR-M1 rather than doing a time attack. He was unable to improve in place, but further improved his time to a 1'30.709s for seventh place on his final lap, 0.734s from first.

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
"We can be very pleased with the progression we are making. Maverick's initial nerves have gone now and he is already very strong. It's amazing to see him drop a 1'29s lap so shortly after his transition and we are also very impressed with how accurate his feedback is with so few kilometres under his belt on this bike. Valentino spent the afternoon testing the 2017 spec bike and making comparisons versus the various setting options. Thanks to his assessments we now have a better understanding of how these features affect the bike's balance. We will share this data with Yamaha's Japanese engineers so they can continue developing these items, but for a first test we are already in a good position."
Valentino Rossi
7th, 1'30.709, 45/69 laps


"It was a long day because we worked quite a lot and we needed a lot of laps, especially a lot of comparisons between the old and the new engine and the old and the new chassis. We also tried some tyres and we saw that we still have a lot of work to do, but anyway it was quite a positive day. We have to work in general on the entire package, especially the chassis has some good things, but we need a bit more time to find the right setting. As for the engine, this one is the first evolution, but we still need to work to try go faster."
Zarco and Folger leave Valencia with high confidence after continuing notable starts

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 pair depart the Circuit Ricardo Tormo feeling fired up for the forthcoming season after once again thoroughly impressing on only their second day aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1's as the rookies gathered more knowledge of the premier class motorcycles. Jonas Folger turned heads with another superb performance as he finished the test inside the top ten, with a time that was only 0.973 from the top of the standings. Whilst Johann Zarco made further encouraging strides forward as he finished a mere 0.067 behind his teammate and in 11th, ahead of numerous experienced MotoGP riders.

Jonas Folger
10th, 1'30.948, 62/63 laps


"Overall, it was a very successful time for us and we can leave feeling happy about what we achieved. The plan was to carry on from where we finished yesterday which meant that I continued to work a lot on my riding style. We completed many laps and it was a long day but we collected a large quantity of data, which we needed to gather. Also, the Tech3 team and I started to alter the bike slightly to see which direction that we could possibly head towards in the future. I still need to adjust my riding style with regards to running the worn tyres, but on the whole, it was a positive day and I was able to round it off by setting a good lap time. Thanks to the crew for their efforts and I look forward to getting back on my Yamaha in the future."
Johann Zarco
11th, 1'31.015, 55/61 laps


"Today was really positive and I am truly satisfied about the work that we undertook. As soon as we started this morning, I was able to run at a similar pace to yesterday, where I was pushing, so it was good to have a bike that I was comfortable with and that I could be fast on straight away. Every time that I left the pit box, I was stronger and I improved my lap times quite consistently. The Tech3 team did a super job and I was able to adapt my riding style more to suit the Yamaha. I am feeling more confident on the M1 which I am really happy about and a 1'31.0 lap is a great target to achieve, plus I was only one second from the front which is very pleasing and a solid way to close the test."
 
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