Team Suzuki Press Office – April 11. The FIXI Crescent Suzuki squad is in a confident mood as it heads to Motorland Aragon for the first European round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship following very promising results in last week’s test at the same circuit.
Leon Camier and Jules Cluzel both performed impressively at the three-day test around the 5,344m Spanish circuit last week, which saw them cover a huge amount of laps and undertake a comprehensive test schedule that covered many aspects of the Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R, including a full evaluation of a new-spec engine from the Japanese company. The data collected from the test has now been analysed by the FIXI Crescent Suzuki engineers and the improvements will be utilised during the race weekend.
The Motorland Aragon circuit is situated near Alcaniz, approximately 120kms from Zaragoza. This modern track was built in 2009 and was used as a WSBK venue for the first time in 2011. The Aragon facility is a multi-purpose motorsport zone and features many circuits for off-road events, as well as a kart track and the road-racing circuit with multiple layouts. The configuration that World Superbike will use this weekend has 17 turns, with a fast straight of just under a kilometre in length, rolling sections, blind crests, tight hairpins and downhill corners, in fact a bit of everything is included on the circuit to make it very challenging for riders, and exciting for spectators.
Camier and Cluzel will take to the track for the first free practice session on Friday, with the pair aiming to make sure they use the first two qualifying sessions to their full extent so they are both able to compete in Superpole on Saturday afternoon. The first 20-lap race of Sunday’s double-header is scheduled to get underway at 12.00hrs local time (11.00hrs BST).
Leon Camier:
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to racing – it feels like a long time since we were last competing on-track. I think it will be a difficult weekend because everyone will be trying so hard, so we’ll have to see what happens. We made some progress in testing at Aragon last week, not really with lap-times, but with the starting procedure and the electronics on the bike. We have some work to do on the chassis settings throughout the weekend, as we have a couple of little ideas that we want to work on that should make things a lot better with the overall package.”
Jules Cluzel:
“After the successful test at Aragon last week, I am really excited about heading back to the track so soon. We had a really good test and learned a lot of things about how to set-up the FIXI Crescent Suzuki GSX-R and how different things work in different situations. I am planning to continue from where I left off in the test and follow on from the good results I had in my debut at Phillip Island. My aim for the weekend is to make more progress and try to finish both races in the top-10. I know this will be a tough task, but I will try my best and see what we can achieve.”
