Suzuki Ecstar bakal merasmikan pasukan MotoGP bagi saingan musim 2022 di Litar Antarabangsa Sepang (SIC) pada 4 Februari ini.
Pelancaran tersebut dijadualkan akan berlaku pada jam 5 petang di SIC di mana dua pelumba tonggak, Joan Mir dan Alex Rins akan mendedahkan jentera Suzuki GSX-RR 2022.
Menariknya, pelancaran pasukan Suzuki bagi musim 2022 itu juga akan diadakan pada tarikh sama dengan pasukan factory Yamaha.
Musim 2022 bakal jadi tahun getir buat Suzuki kerana selepas Mir muncul juara dunia pada 2020, pasukan itu bukan sahaja gagal mengulangi kejayaan namun tidak mampu menempatkan diri dikalangan pesaing utama kejuaraan.
Meskipun jentera GSX-RR mempamerkan prestasi konsisten dan tidak berdepan masalah teknikal namun aspek kuasa masih ketinggalan jika dibandingkan dengan YZR-M1 dan Ducati GP21 musim lalu.
Selain pelancaran pasukan dan livery baharu jentera GSX-RR itu, sesi ujian rasmi pada 5 hingga 6 Februari ini juga bakal menentukan tahap kemampuan jentera Suzuki menjelang musim 2022.
After his first-ever premier class MotoGP victory last week in the European GP, Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir is just a sniff away from winning the 2020 championship crown and his chances are quite good. What does the 23-year-old Spaniard need to do to seal the deal on Sunday? (more…)
Team Suzuki Ecstar of MotoGP has confirmed their riders’ line-up until the end of the 2022 season as they inked a new contract with their young Spanish star, Joan Mir. This was done shortly after the Japanese manufacturer struck a similar deal with its ‘senior’ rider, Alex Rins just a few days back. (more…)
MotoGP 2020 has not even started yet (due to all the cancellations and postponements announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Alex Rins has already signed a new deal with Team Suzuki Ecstar which will see them racing together until the end of the 2022 season. (more…)
Team Suzuki Ecstar has launched the 2019 Suzuki GSX-RR for the MotoGP 2019 season.
Unlike other teams, Suzuki chose to unveil their bikes through a video on YouTube, instead of a “live” launch event. The team unveiled their all-Spanish rider line-up last season. Three-year factory veteran Alex Rins is joined by newcomer Joan Mir. The latter replaces Andrea Iannone who left for Aprilia. Sylvain Guintoli continues his role as test rider for Suzuki.
Alex Rins finished in second place in the last three rounds of 2018 and hopes to move up to the front step in 2019. Suzuki last won a race with Maverik Vinalez in 2016.
“After the last test in November I left clear feedback for the engineers to work on, as far as I know the improvements we will try in Sepang will not be drastic but many small improvements in many areas, which is totally the Suzuki philosophy. We know what we were missing on the bike, so I believe the R&D in Japan will deliver a package which will help us to improve further,” said Rins.
Joan Mir made his first Moto3 appearance in 2015 to replace the injured Hiroki Ono. He crashed out after making contact with John McPhee. Mir came back as a full rider in 2016 and finished 5thoverall. In 2017, he dominated the series with 10 wins and a 91 point advantage over his closest rival. Pundits felt that he could be the next Valentino Rossi or Marc Marquez.
He moved to the EG 0,0 Marc VDS team in Moto2 in 2018 where he captured 4 podiums and finished the season in 6th.
“Of course I still need many more hours on the bike, there are so many things I still need to understand to be even more effective, but I feel very supported by the team and I will rely on their wealth of experience to improve, and also to contribute my own improvements to my bike,” he said.
The 2019 bike follows the basic shape of the 2018 model with some visible but small modifications.
Those are differences we could see, but the team’s Technical Manager Ken Kawauchi said that the factory has developed a new engine, chassis, besides improvements in the electronics and fairing. He also added that Suzuki’s approach to the MotoGP project is by taking step-by-step improvements rather than redesigning something completely new all the time.
That last statement proves how important it is for the riders to start off their new season with something familiar yet improved, instead of riding something which completely alien to them. It helps the rider to familiarize himself to the bike quicker and hopefully translate to great results from the beginning.
All pictures from Suzuki and MotoGP
It has been quite a turbulent MotoGP silly season with a number of high profile jumps. From Jorge Lorenzo signing with Honda to Andrea Iannone getting an Aprilia seat, the next hot piece of news confirms Moto2’s Joan Mir moving up to Team Suzuki Ecstar for the next two seasons. (more…)
It was only last month when MotoGP Tech 3 team announced their switch of machinery from Yamaha to KTM for the year 2019. This monumental shift in the grid has caused quite a stir and it looks like it’s the beginning of many more changes to come. (more…)
The latest rumour circulating the MotoGP paddock (besides the #TermasClash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez in the Argentina GP) revolves one particular Spaniard rider, Jorge Lorenzo. It seems that Suzuki is already started working on a plan to get the three-time MotoGP world champion to join them for the 2019 season. (more…)
There’s news going around in the MotoGP world that Suzuki is looking to run a satellite team for the 2019 season. The Japanese manufacturer’s initial plan of putting in four prototype machines this year was put on hold due to their difficult season last year but it might be plausible for the upcoming season. (more…)
© Copyright – BikesRepublic.com 2024 Trademarks belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved
