Mir, Rins get second outing on 2022 Suzuki MotoGP engine

The current MotoGP season may only be four races old, but Suzuki riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins got their second outing on the prototype 2022 GSX-RR engine during Monday's Jerez test.

Suzuki - like Yamaha, Ducati and Honda - has had its engine design frozen since the start of 2020 due to an emergency technical freeze following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mir and Rins had got their first taste of their proposed 2022 engine, which aims to improve top speed while maintaining the current character, at the Qatar pre-season test.

"Honestly I think that we made a great day. I'm quite happy," began reigning world champion Mir, who was third fastest at the test behind Maverick Vinales and Rins.

"We tried again the 2022 engine, and it's what we expected, a little bit better, but not a huge step. We took good information to keep working on this engine. I'm quite satisfied about how everything is going.

"It looks like we are following a good line. I expect that we will not make a super-big step in that area, but if we are able to improve a bit more, to try to have an engine with the same character that we have now but with a bit more speed, it will be really good, and we are quite happy about the evolution."

Rins, fastest when he halted testing in mid-afternoon and headed to Barcelona for a shoulder check after a free practice fall, added: “Today was a good day for us, we tried several things, including comparing again the possible 2022 engine. I was happy and confident with the bike and pleased with how everything went."

Aside from the engine comparison, both riders continued work on the set-up of their GSX-RRs ahead of next weekend's French Grand Prix.

"We worked on the set-up in terms of suspension and a few small things, and I feel like we’ve improved our base. I was able to set fast times even on used tyres, faster than yesterday, so I’m happy with the result," said Rins, who fell and remounted in Sunday's race.

Mir, fifth in the race and now fourth in the world championship, worked on geometry as he sought to improve the front-end feeling during his 64 laps.

"I was able to try different geometry on the bike and I felt quite OK, it was a good step to feel the front tyre a bit more, the front of the bike a bit more," Mir said.

"Normally, to get a bit more feeling, you put a bit more load on the front. And normally what happens in this case is you lose the grip on the rear. What we did was we changed the geometry a bit and we compensated with different specs on the rear, different shocks and different stuff, and we were able to be really competitive.

"On the last two exits, I was really impressed because I was able to ride in 1'37 with a 20 lap tyre. Every exit I was in 1'37s, but not with 20 lap tyres. I'm quite happy about that, we are following the good steps.

"I will also say that in Le Mans, it's really important, in Le Mans we always miss this feeling with the front. We improved that here. So it's a good thing for Le Mans."

Free practice for the French Grand Prix starts next Friday.