MotoGP Season Update: Team Suzuki Ecstar Tops Catalunya Qualifying With Blistering Improvements

Jun 13, 2015 03:44 PM EDT

(Photo : Getty Images) Team Suzuki Ecstar Spanish riders Aleix Espargaro (R) and Maverick Vinales ride at the Barcelona-Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, on June 13, 2015, during the Catalunya Moto GP Grand Prix qualify sessions. AFP PHOTO / JOSEP LAGO (Photo credit should read JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

What a glorious weekend at Catalunya for Team Suzuki Ecstar as they consolidated the one & two in MotoGp Qualfying session.

Since yesterday both 2013 Moto3 Champion Maverick Vinales and the Reigning Open-Class Champion Aleix Espargaro are doing great in every Free Practice session. Finishing in the top five since Fp1 made them confident they could have a chance to find a way to get near to the front runners.

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Earlier in the morning in Free Practice 3, Maverick did an impressive job setting the time of 1m 41.105s, placing him at the top of the timesheets & letting himself qualify directly to Q1 for the first time, while his teammate Aleix consistently ran a strong pace as he clocked (1m 41.232s) to bring him to third, per Yahoo Sports.

However, he admitted at first that he was afraid that adding the power of the GSXRR would upset the smooth handling & front-end feel of the bike. But everything changes when he tried it and found that the power delivery is much better than it had been, with the new engine offering a smooth power curve in the lower revs. Nevertheless, he's confident that these changes made the power delivery of the engine even better & smoother.

Later, in the afternoon when it comes to Qualifying Session, the Reigning MotoGp Champion quickly set a blistering time of (1m 40.754s), breaking the old Pole Record (1m 40.893s) set by Dani Pedrosa in 2013. Telefonica Movistar Yamaha Racing Jorge Lorenzo, the man of the moment, finished with a time of 1m 40.646s, holding the top timesheets for a moment before both of the Spaniards of Team Suzuki Ecstar went to the pits to change to a new soft rear tire.

First to charge on the track was the 20-year old Marquez, who managed to increase his pace even more by clocking in (1m 40.629s). He grabbed the pole position from Lorenzo but his fellow teammate, the elder of the Espargaro brothers, was not finished as he rode to even better time at 1m 40.546s ahead of his teammate Maverick Vinales by mere tenth of seconds.

Saturday result marked the first Pole Position of Team Suzuki Ecstar since 2007 at Catalunya with both of the riders were on top of the timesheets, via Crash.net.

TagsTeam Suzuki Ecstar, 2013 Moto3 Champion Maverick Vinales, Aleix Espargaro, Free Practice 3