Team Suzuki Press Office – July 3.
There’s no time to take a breather or relax for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, as they are already travelling towards Germany for Round 9 of the MotoGP World Championship at Sachsenring.
Alex Rins arrives in Germany with the desire to make up for the crash he had in Assen, but also with full awareness that his crash happened while he was leading the race in a weekend where he showed consistent speed and a strong rhythm. Although overtaking is hard in Sachsenring as the layout is very small and tight, he hopes to have a successful race weekend.
Assen saw the continuation of Joan Mir’s increasing confidence and pace, and the Dutch GP rewarded him with a nice 8th place, a handful of useful points, and yet more race experience. He is hoping to build on this form when attacking Sachsenring’s unusual layout.
The German circuit of Sachsenring is the shortest on the calendar (3.700mt) and, interestingly, while the Dutch track has the most right-hand corners in the calendar (12), Germany has only 3 right-hand corners, the fewest in the championship.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“I’m happy that we are immediately going to another race, so we can keep up the momentum. With Joan we’ve been having positive races, so we want to keep this progression going. Unfortunately, Assen was a bittersweet race for Alex, who had great pace but a crash. So, it’s also positive for him to move immediately on to a new track and clear his mind. We are doing well with both riders, so it’s important that we keep on like this.”
Alex Rins:
“The weekend in Assen has been a positive one despite the fact that we got no rewards for our good work. But the positive facts remain, I felt very strong all weekend. I’m happy that we’ll go straight to Germany, I’m looking forward to getting back on track. Apparently our bike suits the very tight and narrow Sachsenring circuit quite well. There is basically only one line for everybody, so it will be difficult to overtake – but I’m ready for the challenge.”
Joan Mir:
“I hope to do a bit better in Sachsenring, and to continuing improving like I have been doing all season, especially in the last few rounds. It helps coming directly from Assen, where I had good feeling and good pace despite ‘only’ finishing 8th. I feel that I can get Top 10 and Top 8 finishes quite easily now, and that’s a very positive thing. So, the goal in Germany is simply to work hard, together with the team, to get another strong finish.”
TECHNICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF TT CIRCUIT OF ASSEN
Manuel Cazeaux – Crew Chief, Alex Rins:
“We’re looking forward to Sachsenring because in the past we’ve had good pace there, and corner speed is one of our strengths, so it suits us. Although for one reason or another we’ve never actually managed to piece it all together and have a great race, I hope this time will be different. From a technical point of view the key is corner speed; it’s really important to have good traction while turning with the throttle open. There are three hard braking points, and in the last corner there’s a lot of wheelie-ing, but you need to balance the bike – because if you focus on one area too much, you’ll have to compromise somewhere else.”
