MotoGP: Suzuki XRH-1 Tested at Barcelona with Promising Results

We might say that the first official timings are quite impressive, as the Suzuki machinery was the 8th fastest, with a 0s772 gap from the leading bike of Jorge Lorenzo, who lapped 1.41s904. De Puniet and Aoki were pleased with the feeling of the motorcycle, especially as this test was carried out in the same conditions for all the teams.

Suzuki and de Puniet were in fact faster than Ducati's Iannone and Pirro and Tech 3's Smith, with Aleix Espargaro being the only CRT rider ahead of the Hamamatsu machinery, with a 0s139 lead.

We can expect a very interesting development of the Suzuki XRH-1 as the factory still have one and a half seasons to built the best bike, after announcing they will only return to MotoGP in 2015.

If we were to heed the rumors, we might see Cal Crutchlow riding for Tech 3 in 2014, as it really looks like someone at Suzuki is trying to make ends meets and put everything in sync, bike development, contracts and all. Only time will tell...

Honda skipped the Barcelona tests and headed straight for this week's Aragon test session.

Photos by Nikolett Kovács.