Joan Mir was encouraged after testing Suzuki’s upgrades to his GSX-RR for 2022. The 2020 MotoGP World Champion confirmed that his demands for more power had been met.
Me and Suzuki as a whole suffered a relatively difficult second album in 2021 after earning driver and team titles in 2020 with rivals like Yamaha and Ducati.
A frustrated Mir managed to at least save third place in the drivers’ championship thanks to an extremely consistent campaign, although he was determined to try Suzuki’s new developments after he was beaten by Ducati at the season finale in Valencia, arguably the best circuit in the organization.
Suzuki was able to improve its in-line four-drivetrain for the first time in nearly two years after the Covid-19 forced engine shutdown ended, improvements that made me feel more positive about the winter break.
“I tried a new fairing yesterday, Alex (Rins) tried it today, but we mainly focused on the new engine and updated electronics,” Mir explained.
“There were a lot of things to try, including on the chassis side, that helped us turn the bike better, although I have to admit that today (Friday) was difficult due to the wind conditions which made things quite unpredictable.
“The good thing is that improvements like turning can still be felt with the wind and the additional force that you can feel anyway.
“We will put together and work out everything we have for next year with the team, but it was a good day of testing for us.
“We worked on the electronics to improve traction control, engine braking and all those areas with the new engine so we know exactly which direction to go.
“We also worked a lot on the used tires, but we certainly have other things to try. We still don’t know if this will be the last engine as we’ve given feedback that there is definitely more power, but we’ll find out. “
Rins: The engine felt “really good”
Alex Rins reckoned his tough 2021 season – in which he ended up only finishing a single podium at the British GP at Silverstone – at a low 13th leader.
The Spaniard agreed with his teammate that Suzuki’s improved engine “felt very good” from the start, but admitted that some expected benefits had not quite materialized with the aero package.
“It was two positive days in Jerez, yesterday it was so good and although the wind was a bit worse today overall, we have some good conclusions,” added Rins.
“We started with the new 2022 engine, which works pretty well, we have to adjust the electronics side a bit, but more or less the new power delivery and everything works just fine.
Rins was generally impressed with the upgrades Suzuki brought to its 2022 challenger
“The new fairing worked well but we wanted a little more (aero) effect so now they (Suzuki) have good feedback to work on and now we’re going to push for a little better fairing for the Malaysia- Test.
“I heard Joan (Me) had more problems with the electronics, but to me (Motor) it felt really good.”