Team Suzuki Press Office – Aug 27.
Alex Rins: 9th – +15.661s
Andrea Iannone: DNF
A positive Sunday saw both of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders improve their performances, enough for Alex Rins to finish the race in a solid 9th position and for Andrea Iannone to lead the warm up session in the morning with the best time, although he ended the race prematurely because of a crash.
The whole race has been a positive one for Rins, who managed to move like lightning in the early laps. His 2’02.112 was the fastest time on the track in lap two and then the rookie showed a consistent and fast pace. The 9th place finish is equal to his best performance of the season in Qatar, but most important for the team is to see his riding skills and tyre management skills improving race after race.
It was an unlucky end to a positive Sunday for Andrea Iannone. Despite the crash at the end of the race which preventing him from finishing, his pace had been consistently close to the top ten. With the improvements made to his GSX-RR he produced a stunning performance in the morning with a very fast pace and was first in the warm up session classification.
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager
“This has been a positive weekend for Alex. This was his best race since his injury. He was able to fight consistently within the top ten in the race, and he was also good in managing the tyres wisely. This is a big step he has made. With this race I believe he gained more confidence and in the next race he will also attempt even more. Andrea, on the other hand, unfortunately crashed. But we can see some positives here as well. In fact, he was very effective on single laps in many moments; in the warm up this morning he was the fastest on track. However, we have to work to give him more consistency and a more effective pace in the race. This is the next step we have to make. Anyway, we were able to make good progress with both riders this weekend and I’m pretty happy.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“Today’s has been another very positive race for Alex. I think he took another big step ahead in his development process. He had a solid race with consistent laps. He also tried to recover from his starting position, although starting from the 13th place is not easy. Particularly in the first part of the race, he was able to lap as fast as the best riders. He did a good job. We’re happy and proud and we can look ahead with optimism for even more improvements. Unfortunately Andrea couldn’t capitalise on the positive improvements we made during the warm up where we found an effective setup. In the race he couldn’t get back the same positive feeling, so now we have to look for the reason why. Then later in the race he sustained a crash and was thus not able to finish. We look forward to Misano, where we will try to take advantage of the progress we’ve made.”
Alex Rins
“I’m happy for how the weekend went; we continue to make steps forward. In the race I felt comfortable from the beginning. Compared to previous races, in this one I managed to defend my position from the very early laps, and then I was able to try to attack. I could sit in 8th or 9th place with confidence, and with a confident pace. But then at the end of the race the rear tyre dropped a lot and I could only hang on to finish in 9th. I’m satisfied by the work we are doing. We continue to improve, not huge improvements, but consistent. We have to keep on getting experience and to try to get better qualifying positions which would make the race easier.”
Andrea Iannone
“After this morning’s warm up I had higher expectations for the race; I felt very confident with an improved setup that made me feel good about my GSX-RR. In the race I could sense from the very beginning that the feeling was different, especially in the back. I didn´t have that confidence, as I had issues with the traction, losing time in acceleration. It’s a shame; we have to find out what happened this morning. Then I sustained a crash in the race. I am very sorry for Petrucci. We have already spoken and he understood where I was coming from. So we with continue to work. I’m happy for Alex who had a good race, and a 15 seconds gap from the winner is a positive sign for all of us.
GP of Great Britain – Final race classification:
1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 40’45.496
2. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – +0.114
3. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – +0.749
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – +1.679
5. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – +3.508
6. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – +7.001
7. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – +10.944
8. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – +13.627
9. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +15.661
10. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – +25.279
11. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +30.336
12. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – +31.609
13. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – +31.945
14. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – +33.567
15. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – +33.901
16. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – +43.012
17. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +48.683
Not Classified
Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 2 Laps
Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – 3 Laps
Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 3 Laps
Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 7 Laps
Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 15 Laps
MotoGP World Standings 2017 after the GP of Great Britain
1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati – 183
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Honda – 174
3. Maverick VIÑALES, Yamaha – 170
4. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha – 157
5. Dani PEDROSA, Honda – 148
6. Johann ZARCO, Yamaha – 109
7. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati – 90
8. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Honda – 89
9. Jonas FOLGER, Yamaha – 77
10. Danilo PETRUCCI, Ducati – 75
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Ducati – 58
12. Scott REDDING, Ducati – 45
13. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia – 43
14. Jack MILLER, Honda – 43
15. Loris BAZ, Ducati – 39
16. Andrea IANNONE, Suzuki – 33
17. Karel ABRAHAM, Ducati – 28
18. Tito RABAT, Honda – 27
19. Pol ESPARGARO, KTM – 26
20. Hector BARBERA, Ducati – 23
21. Alex RINS, Suzuki – 19
22. Bradley SMITH KTM – 8
23. Michele PIRRO, Ducati – 7
24. Mika KALLIO, KTM – 6
25. Sam LOWES, Aprilia – 2
26. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Suzuki – 1
Story Issued by: Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
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