MotoGP: Another wet disaster for Suzuki

The Suzuki MotoGP squad of Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales had another disaster day yesterday at the German round of MotoGP, after wet conditions left the duo fighting similar problems as last time out in Assen.

Still inexperienced with the new control electronics on a wet track, technical manager Ken Kawauchi admitted afterwards that the team need to find a solution to the problem as soon as possible.

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“Unfortunately this has been another difficult race for us. At Assen already we struggled in the wet, for this reason we got back to the factory and exploited the one extra week break to prepare some countermeasures for these kind of conditions.

“Then here, in Germany, the rain came only on Sunday, so we could try only a very few of them; and unfortunately they proved to not be as effective as we had wished. The problem we have is clear, and we are all aware of it, so we will exploit the summer break to further-develop some solutions in order to be better-prepared for the next time we find such hard conditions.”

And with the electronics problems they’re facing, Viñales says that despite trying to counter it on the fly, there’s only so much he can do.

“This has been a very tough race for me, the result is not satisfying at all and it means we are not yet competitive in the wet races. We still have to improve the traction, with these conditions I cannot push and be performing because I can’t find acceleration.

“It is a problem we have also in the dry, but there I can counterbalance with the riding, and on wet it becomes bigger and bigger, so it is hard to keep the competitor’s pace. The base-pack we have is really good, but this struggle with the grip is preventing us harvesting better results. I know Suzuki is working hard on this and I hope they can find some solutions soon, either with the electronics or with the set-up.” 

 

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