Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has finished the second day of the three-day Malaysian
test by completing a thorough and comprehensive test of Bridgestone’s latest
development tyres and revised brake components.
Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen recorded 59 and 44 laps respectively of
the 5.5km Sepang circuit, including some control runs to assess the durability
and performance of the new compounds and constructions developed by Bridgestone
during the off-season.
The two Suzuki racers also conducted some brake comparison tests in
conjunction with Brembo technicians present at the track, and with the emphasis
on this and tyre testing today’s single lap-times were not the priority,
although Capirossi did improve on his day-one time by almost half-a-second as he
recorded the seventh quickest time of the day, with a 2’01.917 lap.
Capirossi and Vermeulen have one more day in Sepang to undertake yet more
tests on all aspects on the 2008 Rizla Suzuki GSV-R, including more tyre
testing, chassis comparison tests and a race simulation run.
Loris Capirossi:
“The more I work with the bike and my crew the more I understand the GSV-R
and what will be best for me in the future. I did a lot more laps today and
every time we change parts or settings I feel my knowledge of the bike increases
and I’m feeling more and more at home. I am confident that with combination of
the best parts and settings that I have tested I can go quite a bit quicker than
I have done so far, and most importantly the more I understand the GSV-R
the more we can make it a better race bike.”
Chris Vermeulen:
“We had a couple of problems with my first bike this morning that needed
sorting out, but that is the kind of thing to be expected when you are testing a
new bike with so many new parts. After we had ironed them out we got through a
lot of detailed set-up testing which took up a large portion of the day.
Obviously testing development tyres and brakes is a major thing to do and takes
a lot of time, but it was something we needed to do and made good progress. We
have gathered a lot of information over the last two days and we certainly know
the priorities for the next improvements.”
from Rizla Suzuki
