The importan💟ce of MotoGP test riders has been underlined in recent years by the signing of big-name stars such as Casey Stoner (Ducati), Dani Pedrosa (KTM), Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and now Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)🌟.

But it's arguably an even more vital role at reigning world champion's Suzuki whic♔h, a🍌long with Aprilia, has only two riders on the MotoGP grid.

The Hamamatsu factory places most of its development trust in the hands of former World Superbike champion and 250cc/Mot🔥oGP rider Sylvain Guintoli.

The Frenchman, ♛38, is💫 still fast enough to claim a twelfth-place finish at Silverstone in 2019 - one of ten wild-card/replacement appearances on the GSX-RR over the past four years.

But his sensitivity to bike behaviour is equally impressive, as﷽ one mishap by🦄 Suzuki proved.

"Sylvain is very important for us to develop the bike, to evaluate the direction. For instance, his comments are always ve🌜ry accurate and his la꧃p time is very close to race riders, considering he's a test rider," said Suzuki MotoGP project leader Shinichi Sahara.

"The funny thing was he tried one 🎶electronics test item but accidentally the mapping was not changed before he tried. He didn’t know and he tried it, so I asked him:🐈 'How was the difference?'

"He said: 'No, I cannot feel a differen🧸ce'. I said 'yeah, y๊ou're right!' He is so accurate!

"He's also consistent and physically verꦆy stဣrong. But unfortunately last year due to the Covid-19 situation, he couldn't test as much as he wanted."

Guintoli has been making up for lost track time by working﷽ though a range of new pa🎃rts, such as a chassis and swingarm, at the recent Qatar tests - as well as trying an early 2022-spec Suzuki engine.

Also on track ✱at Losail was fellow Suzuki test rider Takuya Tsuda, who is usu🅰ally responsible for development work in Japan.

"We have another test rider in Japan, Tsuda. He improved his performance as a test rider in Motegi, with a lap time as good as Sylvain and his comꦅments are getting more accurate," said Sahara.

"We have these two good test riders."

Guintoli's best lap of the Losail tests was a 1m 55.642s,🃏 which compared with 1m 53.827s for reigning world champion Joan Mir a🐟nd 1m 53.860s for team-mate Alex Rins. Tsuda's best was a 1m 57.795s.

In addition to his MotoGP testing and wild-card duties, Guintoli will be compe🌳ting in this year's Endurance World c🍒hampionship for the Yoshimura SERT team.