Capirossi and Vermeulen pleased by Jerez results

The winter improvements made by Suzuki on their GSV-R prototype were confirmed by the Rizla Suzuki pair Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen over the weekend at the Official MotoGP Test.

After using Sunday morning to fine tune to the setting of his new machine at the 4.423m Spanish circuit, Capirossi worked hard with his crew to get the best result possible in the afternoon’s 45-minute showdown session and was pleased to have ended up third, with a best time of 1’39.757s.

The veteran Italian commented, “We are quite happy because we have seen the improvement of our bike again. We have done three preseason tests and twice we have been third overall, so this is a good sign for the future. We have to continue working hard because our targets are really high. We still have a long way to go if we want to win races but I think we now have a good opportunity this season.”

Previewing the first race of the year in Qatar, Capirossi went on to say, “Well we struggled there a little bit a couple of weeks ago at the last test, but we found some chassis modifications which are better and we really hope to be competitive there.”

Vermeulen was only narrowly behind Capirossi in the Sunday shootout, the Australian 26 year-old clocking a fastest time of 1’39.848 from his 13 laps, to leave him fifth overall.

He stated, “We had a great ‘qualifying session’ and to be up there closer to the front than we were last year, with Loris third and me fifth is great for us as a team. I am happy because we have been to Phillip Island (Australia), to Malaysia and to Qatar this winter and those circuits are quite similar, so to then come to Jerez where the layout is completely different and for the bike to be competitive is very good.”