GOOD NEWS: KEVIN SCHWANTZ Announce His Return To Suzuki After…
Describing 2015 “as good as could reasonably be expected,” the 1993 500cc World Champion, who raced only Suzukis in grand prix competition, said it was the marque’s gains throughout the season that caught his eye.
Schwantz told Motorsport.com: “If I was a potential sponsor, I would think the progress they made this year from the first round to the last was a great reason to get involved in that team.
“I know those Suzuki engineers in Japan are as good as any of their equivalents at the other teams. There just aren’t as many of them working on that project, so things take a little longer.
“But to be first and second on the grid in Barcelona – only the seventh round of the season – was a great achievement.”
Riders Aleix Espargaro, a five-season veteran of the series, and rookie Maverick Vinales scored three sixth places between them and went on to finish 11th and 12th in the championship respectively.
Schwantz said he understood that lack of top-end horsepower was the team’s biggest issue to overcome in the off-season ahead.
He observed: “Watching [Valentino] Rossi coming through the field at Valencia gave us a good comparison between Yamaha and Suzuki, didn’t it?
“As Rossi passed Aleix, they came off the corner side-by-side and very similar, but the second half of the straightaway that outright power number comes into play and the Yamaha was well ahead.
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