Successful Moto2-Test in Valencia - All Suter riders happy with new bike

At the first official pre-season test of the Moto2 category in Valencia, all Suter riders were happy with the latest version of the famous Swiss racing prototype. „It didn’t take me long to feel good and comfortable on the bike. The new Suter MMXII is based on last year’s MMXI, with careful modifications in different areas. All components work very well together and I noticed a remarkable increase in stability under brakes and in rear tyre grip on the corner exits“, said Swiss hero Tom Luthi, who was clearly fastest Suter rider during the three day of testing on the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

“The most noticeable changes in comparison to last year are the new “upside-down” type swingarm and the carbon reinforcements in the front sections of the frame”, said Reto Karrer, Moto2 project leader at Suter Racing Technology.

“Both these modifications changed the stiffness of our chassis in a certain way and led to very positive feedback. All Suter riders felt comfortable on the bike almost immediately, even Alex de Angelis, Roberto Rolfo, Yuki Takahashi, Nico Terol und Toni Elias, who rode on a different bike or in a different category last year. The biggest challenge for Nico was the change from a 125 cc two-stroke engine to a 600 cc four-stroke machine with its special Suter slipper clutch. The return to Moto2 racing is not an easy task for Toni Elias either, who won the Moto2 world championship 2010 on Moriwaki and then tried his luck in MotoGP racing in 2011. But Toni is happy with his Suter MMXII as well and finds a bit more speed every time he goes out on the track.”

“Our riders are still a few tenths of a second away from the top in the time sheets, but due to the unusually cold temperatures at Valencia and due to the different engine specs the teams have been using, the lap times here didn’t have much significance. More important is the progress the individual riders made with the base set-up of their bikes. We managed to sort through lots of different geometry and suspension settings, but we still have an extensive testing schedule ahead of us, which allows us to try many more options, on the set-up and with certain chassis parts like different linkages for the rear suspension.”

“In 2012, a total of eight Moto2 riders will compete with Suter prototypes. Seven out of eight were on the track in Valencia, only Marc Márquez decided to give the session a miss and to continue his recovery from his vision problems. The way things look, he will also miss the tests at Jerez next week and only return to action with a private testing session at Portimao at the beginning of March. But his team came to Valencia and followed our progress with keen interest. I spoke with Marc’s father Juliá, who confirmed that his vision has returned by 98 per cent, but that he will only ride once he is 100 per cent recovered. This is a very good and healthy approach, especially since Marc does not need to hurry: He had been riding the latest version of the Suter prototype since the Grand Prix of Aragón last year and he knows the bike very well!”

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