Sepang.- The Mallorcan was 12th on the time sheet at the end of the first pre-season test with a time of 1.58.529, improving his best record of the first day (1.59.067) by more than half a second, although he could not do a good attack on the clock in the morning, when the conditions were best and most of the drivers set fast times.
“This morning I woke up very stiff, but it’s normal on the first day in MotoGP,” explained Mir, who completed 35 laps before the rain stopped the riders two hours from the end of the session, something that did not affect the plans. “I prefer a short pre-season. What I don’t like is a pre-season in Qatar and the first race there.”
At the end of the day the Suzuki rider had done all his work. “We tried almost everything we had to try but we have to reconfirm it now in Mandalika.”
After a first day on Saturday of putting things in place, Mir delved into the Suzuki’s new engine this Sunday. “It was an important day for the engine, because the electronics are much better calibrated, and I am satisfied.”
“We are close to being ready; we are happy. We have gained top speed. We know that we have a fast bike in the race, but fighting with the Ducati with the engine we had was not easy. The character of the engine is the same, but it gives more performance “, he said before cooling expectations a bit: “I’m satisfied, happy, but we haven’t won anything.”
First thing in the morning, the race was below the circuit record.
“The fastest lap attempt didn’t go very well, but we’re not here for the fastest lap,” he said.
“We have failed a bit in the morning, the temperature was lower than yesterday and I thought that the front soft rubber could give me something more, I slipped twice and I entered without making a lap as I should have to attack the time. It has been It was difficult to manage the bike and I couldn’t push under the brakes. We put a tough front end and we made time with him, so there was room to go down. But I’m happy, I don’t think time attack is a big problem for us right now , but we have to improve it,” he argued.
The Suzuki team will travel to Indonesia on Monday, where three days of testing will follow next week.
“We have to keep testing aerodynamic issues to improve that, we also have to find the best combination of chassis and swingarm, we have tested almost everything in Sepang, but Mandalika will help us to confirm that what has been tested here works on a different circuit,” he concluded.
