MotoGP – Motegi Day 1 – Excellent performance for Chris Vermeulen

Chris Vermeulen had a very positive start to the weekend at the Motegi circuit. The Australian driver, teammate of our Loris Capirossi, achieved the fourth best time with a time of 1'49.382, 0.837 behind the leader Valentino Rossi. Although he had not achieved satisfactory results in recent years in Free Practice 1 he did very well. The new Suzuki GSV-R 800cc is in fact significantly better than the one in the past, especially when exiting corners. The word is up to him.

“We had a pretty good start here in Motegi. It's not a circuit where I've done well in the last three years with Suzuki, but there has been a big improvement. We have made a big step forward with the new bike in some areas, especially in acceleration out of corners. Everything seems to be working well for us here. Today we used the same set of tires for the entire session, they worked very well even if towards the end there was a drop but if the track conditions are the same in the race we will know what to do. The Team did a great job especially considering that you only have 45 minutes available. Let's hope that tomorrow will be dry so we can further improve the bike setup."