2012 Suter goes head-to-head with 800cc bikes
Monday's Mugello MotoGP test marked the first time that a 2012 CRT (privateer) bike has gone head-to-head with the present 800cc grand prix prototypes, in the hands of race riders.
The 1000cc BMW-powered Marc VDS Suter was ridden by former MotoGP rider - and present Marc VDS Moto2 racer - Mika Kallio.
The Suter's best lap time was 6.342sec from Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner and 4.3sec behind Hiroshi Aoyama's satellite Honda, the slowest of the 800cc machines.
Some of that can be attributed to Kallio's lack of experience on the bike and its level of development - but Kallio's best lap of 1min 53.668sec was still 0.3sec slower than Stefan Bradl in Sunday's (600cc) Moto2 race, underlining the size of the challenge facing CRT manufacturers.
The test was originally due to feature 1000cc factory bikes in the hands of MotoGP riders, but Yamaha, Honda and Ducati subsequently decided to wait until the Brno test in mid-August to show their speed.
CRT bikes will be allowed fuel and engine-change concessions to help compete with the (1000cc) factory prototypes next year.
The big question now is how fast will the factory 1000cc prototypes be. Even with the bore/stroke restrictions, not many expect them to be slower than the present 800s...
