It was another steady weekend for the Rizla Suzuki team at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España, with Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both finishing in the top ten again and both matching their qualifying results in the race.
A good showing for both riders in preseason testing at the track might have given hope of a more competitive package for the Italian-Australian pair at round three but after his sixth place finish Capirossi stated that more power is still required from the evolving GSV-R to take that next step forward.
Loris Capirossi Speaks…
"It was not a brilliant race but I had a good battle with Colin (Edwards) and Marco (Melandri) and in the end I was able to overtake Colin. These types of results are not our target though," stated Capirossi. "We need a bit more of a stronger engine and that is why Suzuki are still working really hard on it."
For his part, after a second tenth place finish in a week, Vermeulen was already looking forward to the next round at Le Mans as the place to put things right. After a good winter for Vermeulen and Capirossi to be sitting ninth and tenth in the standings after three races is undeniably below expectations, but the Aussie star is relishing the prospect of returning to France, where he took victory in 2007.
Chris Vermeulen Speaks…
"It’s a place I have won at, I was fifth there last year and we have always been quick there," Vermeulen remarked. "It’s a track which I really enjoy riding at, so hopefully we can go for another victory."
"It’s the same for everyone, so hopefully we’ll find the situation the other way round at a circuit sometime soon, but in the meantime we’ll be working hard to get the absolute best out of the package we’ve got at the next couple of races."
"We managed to match our qualifying positions in the race, which is not at all spectacular, but it is in honesty about what we could have expected. We need a bit more performance from the machine, but also for our overall riders and bike package the hardest tyre this weekend simply didn’t suit us."
