Suzuki lose concessions after podium
Suzuki will lose their status as one of MotoGP’s concession teams for 2019 after both Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins fought for the podium at Aragon on Sunday. With both men getting involved in the scrap between Marquez and Dovizioso, it was eventually Iannone who bagged third place, just 1.259s adrift of Marquez and with that third place earning Suzuki another concession point the team has now reached the six point limit for the season. Showing stronger pace than he has for most of 2018 to return to the podium for the first time since Jerez in May, Iannone admitted that while Suzuki might have been strong in Aragon, there are still a long way off from being title contenders. “The reality is we worked well this weekend but at the moment
‘We worked well here but the Honda and Ducati are still better’
Honda and Ducati still have better performance. We struggle out of corners – the wheels spin a lot. And when you’re not accelerating well it’s hard to recover on the brakes. Speed is important, too, we lost a lot on the straights which makes it hard fighting with the two best riders in the world. “But we have a really good chassis, and incredible grip when leaned over. We can enter fast, long corners with a lot of speed and gain a lot there. But that can be negative at other tracks because you use the tyres edge a lot.” Suzuki’s rapid improvement this year is likely to be slowed next year, though, by the loss of concession status. Although the team is adamant it is something they have been aiming for, progress will be harder as they lose testing time, wildcard opportunities and, most importantly, the ability to bring mid-season engine updates.