Vinales makes steps with Suzuki’s 2016 chassis at Austin MotoGP test

Ecstar Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales has spent a day re-visiting the 2016 chassis he ditched in favour of last year’s this season and believes after employing some setup changes he could use it at some tracks.

The Spaniard, who took fourth place in Sunday’s MotoGP race at the Texas circuit, says he may have been a little hasty in electing to use the 2015 chassis this year as he lapped faster with the newer frame.

“Today we tried some more configurations with the 2016 chassis to compare with the one we tested in pre-season and the one I’ve been using in the first three races and we are happy to have discovered that, on this track, these new configurations could have seen a more positive result in the race,” said Vinales.

“After this test, I maybe now have a little regret at my initial choice, but this is normal - all aspects have positives and negatives and you need time to go in depth with the investigations. Sometimes it takes more time, so it’s good that we made this test because we could go really in depth of these two sides of the same coin and now know better the potential of both the chassis.

“This gives us a double option and I don’t exclude that we might decide to adopt one or the other according to the specificity of the different tracks. Basically what we are looking for is some more traction and also more effective hard braking, which again has to do with the rear grip.

“The modifications in set-up we have done here proved to be effective, as my lap times were pretty good, and this is something that makes me very happy. We also made some steps forward with the electronics - it’s another thing that could help us, and it’s good to see that we are continuously improving.

“Testing here was very important - it’s good to review the situation after three races and to see where we are, so that now we can have a clearer idea which direction to take."