Source: Suzuki Racing.

Team Suzuki MotoGP made a positive first day testing at Valencia in Spain today with new riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales aboard their 2015 GSX-RR MotoGP machines.

Espargaro set a lap-time of 1m32.315 in 40 laps around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and in his first laps aboard the machine was within 1.34-seconds away from fastest rider Jorge Lorenzo.

“It was really fantastic,” Espargaro said. “I feel the riding position is much better compared to the one that I rode this year and it turns very well so that braking and turning into the corners is really comfortable for me.

“We are still missing some top-end power, but I was previously informed this by the Suzuki engineers and I believe that they are working on it, but the electronic control is not too bad, obviously.

“The machine feels quite compact for me as I am quite tall, but I really enjoyed riding it and had a very positive start. I’m so excited to continue riding it tomorrow.”

Teenager Vinales took his first-laps on the GSX-RR and set a best-time of 1m33.268s on his penultimate lap of 64.

“It was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed today,” Vinales said. “It wasn’t easy to get used to the power and speed for me in the beginning, so I paid a lot of attention and concentrated at the start of the session and tried to adapt little by little.

“The chassis is quite compact – and that fitted me very well – and I could brake as hard as in Moto2, but I’ve only opened ‘full gas’ in the middle of the straight-straight so far. I’m also not using the electronic control either, apart from the traction control, so there is still a lot to do.

“The bike leans and corners easily, even though I’ve not had to change my riding style so much – I’m really feel comfortable without modifying anything. I hope the power delivery will be improved-more for me as we continue our testing, but I also need to learn lots more myself and improve my riding as well.”

Those results placed Espargaro 14th on the time sheets, with Vinales trailing not so far behind in 17th.