Team Suzuki Press Office – October 18.
With no time to rest, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR is enjoying the good feeling after the advantageous race in Motegi while travelling onwards to Australia, for the second of three far flung races. The 4th and 5th places of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins in Japan gave the team a boost of encouragement and confidence, which they are now hoping to use to continue the improvement in performance throughout the last races of the championship.
The Australian GP will be raced at Phillip Island, a circuit that both the Suzuki riders enjoy immensely. The peculiarity of the track should also be favourable to the characteristics of the GSX-RR, which has recently seen an improvement in performance.
The Michelin® Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Phillip Island Circuit is a 4.4 km (2.76 miles) track in the very south of Australia, blessed with breathtaking scenery and beautiful ocean views. It is made up of seven left-handed and five right-handed corners and is one of the fastest, most fluid tracks on the calendar, providing some of the most spectacular racing of the MotoGP™ season. Sunday’s MotoGP™ GP will be raced over 27 laps for a total distance of 120.1 km (74.5 miles)
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“It’s always a pleasure to come back to Phillip Island. It’s a track where we have good memories; last year both our riders had been fighting for the podium and in the end we got a third place. After the solid performance in Motegi we will do our best to capitalize on the progress we’ve made. Also, we will have to take into account the weather, which is forecasted to be not so good again. We saw that we can be competitive in the wet, therefore we will try to adapt in the most effective way to what we have. The race in Japan has been very important to Andrea and Alex as it gave them further motivation. Let’s also try to embrace this positive momentum of the team here at Phillip Island.”
Andrea Iannone
“Phillip Island is a track I like. I hope we will be lucky enough to get three sunny days, as we had enough rain in Japan. During the pre-season test we encountered some minor issues, but the pace was very good. The result in Japan gave us new hope. We are enthusiastic and it’s good that we don’t have a long break in between the races so that I can still enjoy the feeling from Motegi.”
Alex Rins
“Phillip Island is an unbelievable track, one of my favourite in the calendar. I´m especially motivated after achieving a fine result in Motegi, in Suzuki’s home race and in front of our president Toshihiro Suzuki. We had a test here early in the season and my feeling with the bike, even though I did not have much experience, was quite good. I think the layout of the circuit suits the GSX-RR well, so let’s just hope the weather is better than in Japan and we can have another good weekend.
