Maverick Viñales is sure that Suzuki's new seamless gearbox and added power will be worth an extra six tenths of a second over one lap and was buoyed after a weekend in which he was challenging both 'Satellite' Yamahas around Brno.
The class rookie, who slipped to eleventh in the MotoGP championship standings after falling from ninth place in Sunday's race, said that he felt he would have been able to challenge Andrea Iannone's Ducati in fourth had the new transmission been ready and more power been available for the eleventh round of the series.
The Suzuki GSX-RR is currently around 20bhp down on the top MotoGP machines and the factory is developing a seamless gearbox, a component which has, among other things, propelled both 'Factory' Yamahas to first and second in the championship.
The 20-year old also feels he and the team have made a big step with the chassis since the start of the season, as underlined by his past two performances, in which he has qualified and spent much of the race ahead of more experienced team-mate Aleix Espargaro.
“I think because we change a lot the style of work. We worked really hard for the race. Sometimes in the practice you can go so fast but then in the race the grip go down. The bike need to stay there. The grip goes down but we keep a really nice pace. I mean, to be behind Pol and Smith – they have a 'Factory' Yamaha. We need to be happy. We made a big, big step from the first part of the season to the last race.
“We know that if we get the seamless and the power easily we can get six tenths, we will be with Rossi, Iannone and these top riders. We need to find two or three more tenths now with what we have. Then we will be ready to fight with the top.”
Both riders were unsure when the new transmission will be available to race as, presumably, a level of testing will be required before it can be utilised competitively.
Speaking of Sunday's race at Brno when he crashed at turn eleven while attempting to run with the Tech 3 Yamahas of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, Viñales was enthused by the steps made since the start of the season.
“Of course when I was behind Pol I was thinking do I stay ninth or do I try to get seventh. I decide to try and go seventh. Finally I crash. I lose the front but it was just 2kph more fast than the last lap. Anyway we need to keep this motivation and we need to be happy. We were fighting with Monster Tech 3 that they are quite fast. Sometimes Smith is quite close to the top. For the next races we need to keep [going]. We have nothing to lose.
“Of course in the first part of the season we were really calm but now we need to push. I think I was already over the limit of my Suzuki today. We were really close to Jorge and Aleix was really far from me. When I looked in the papers Aleix was nearly 20 seconds to us.
“That means we are working really good and we are doing a good job with the Suzuki. Just we need to wait and just say to Suzuki that if we have the power we can do a really nice job. So I'm really motivated to work and to keep this style for the next races.”
Viñales pointed towards a stellar qualifying and start as key to his improved showing in the top ten and admits he may need to do more laps 'with the closed eyes' on Saturday afternoon in the future.
“Of course. I mean Pol did a really nice race this season. He has a 'Factory' bike so we need to be happy. I was always fighting with Petrucci, Aleix but today they were 20 seconds behind me so that means if I can do a start I can be more near the top. In the next qualifying I need to do one lap more with the closed eyes!
“On the first lap I was feeling that I could do more. Honestly I was trying to recover Pol what we lose on the straight on the brakes. Corner one I was braking amazing because there I recover two tenths on Pol on the brakes. It's normal because we were over the limit all the time.”
