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SUZUKI CONFIDENT AFTER BEST TESTS
Team Suzuki MotoGP completed the fourth tests of the new GP year at Valencia today with former World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. reporting further progress on the road towards making the GSV-R MotoGP machine fully competitive.
"They were", said team manager Garry Taylor, "our best tests for two years."
Roberts was again joined by ex-Suzuki Superbike rider Gregorio Lavilla for the two days of testing at the Ricardo Tormo GP circuit. The Spanish racer was standing in for team regular rider John Hopkins, still sidelined by ankle injuries sustained in an off-road bike crash.
Following promising tests in Australia, the team reported further progress with the evolutionary process of the powerful 990cc V4 four-stroke GSV-R, the fastest racing motorcycle ever built by Suzuki. The team is still testing an interim machine - another development stage in the evolution towards the full 2004 racer.
"We're getting more and more things figured out every time and going faster on race tires than we did last year on qualifying tires That's quite a big difference," said Roberts, before flying home to the States, to prepare for the next round of tests before the start of the season in South Africa in mid-April.
Team manager Garry Taylor also reflected the upbeat mood of the team after the tests.
"As usual, we are not releasing lap times, but that was our most positive test for a couple of years. You can see by his manner how Kenny is feeling. He is a racer, and he has the sniff of a chance of success!"
"It's the result of a lot of hard work from the factory, addressing the problems we had last year, and also a systematic program of testing. We've made real progress," said Taylor.
He also thanked Spanish rider Lavilla for a very significant contribution. "He's a really good rider, and he helped us to learn a lot. He and Kenny spoke a lot, and he made very similar comments about all the changes we tried."
Hopkins is expected to be fit for the next round of IRTA tests in Catalunya in three weeks.
KENNY ROBERTS - "A PRETTY BIG CHANGE"
"We're getting more and more things figured out, and we're starting to get the bike so it has a better feeling. It's impossible to say that we're competitive already; it wouldn't be constructive to think about that. We can only base our progress on what we achieved last year and we'd win every time compared with that. We are consistently faster on race tires than we were last year on soft qualifying tires, good for only a couple of laps. That's a pretty big change."
Team Suzuki MotoGP completed the fourth tests of the new GP year at Valencia today with former World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. reporting further progress on the road towards making the GSV-R MotoGP machine fully competitive.
"They were", said team manager Garry Taylor, "our best tests for two years."
Roberts was again joined by ex-Suzuki Superbike rider Gregorio Lavilla for the two days of testing at the Ricardo Tormo GP circuit. The Spanish racer was standing in for team regular rider John Hopkins, still sidelined by ankle injuries sustained in an off-road bike crash.
Following promising tests in Australia, the team reported further progress with the evolutionary process of the powerful 990cc V4 four-stroke GSV-R, the fastest racing motorcycle ever built by Suzuki. The team is still testing an interim machine - another development stage in the evolution towards the full 2004 racer.
"We're getting more and more things figured out every time and going faster on race tires than we did last year on qualifying tires That's quite a big difference," said Roberts, before flying home to the States, to prepare for the next round of tests before the start of the season in South Africa in mid-April.
Team manager Garry Taylor also reflected the upbeat mood of the team after the tests.
"As usual, we are not releasing lap times, but that was our most positive test for a couple of years. You can see by his manner how Kenny is feeling. He is a racer, and he has the sniff of a chance of success!"
"It's the result of a lot of hard work from the factory, addressing the problems we had last year, and also a systematic program of testing. We've made real progress," said Taylor.
He also thanked Spanish rider Lavilla for a very significant contribution. "He's a really good rider, and he helped us to learn a lot. He and Kenny spoke a lot, and he made very similar comments about all the changes we tried."
Hopkins is expected to be fit for the next round of IRTA tests in Catalunya in three weeks.
KENNY ROBERTS - "A PRETTY BIG CHANGE"
"We're getting more and more things figured out, and we're starting to get the bike so it has a better feeling. It's impossible to say that we're competitive already; it wouldn't be constructive to think about that. We can only base our progress on what we achieved last year and we'd win every time compared with that. We are consistently faster on race tires than we were last year on soft qualifying tires, good for only a couple of laps. That's a pretty big change."
