Team Suzuki Press Office – September 7 After the stunning victory at Silverstone, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR heads to Misano Adriatico for the 13th race of the season this weekend, with Maverick Viñales fresh from his first MotoGP™ win.
The weekend in the UK was a milestone for Suzuki, winning its first MotoGP grand prix race since a return to the World Championship and nine years after Chris Vermuelen’s previous Suzuki victory at Le Mans, France in 2007.
The next round at Misano is expected to be intense as well, being the second race in a row for the team with no time to recover from Silverstone. Viñales will get to the Riviera Adriatica not only with the emotions of the victory, but also with the awareness that his machine is performing well, which has given him better feelings; similar to team-mate Aleix Espargaró, after the improvements he also made in the last race.
The circuit is 4.2km (2.63 miles) long, with six left-hand corners and 10 right-hand, with the longest straight being 565m (1853.67 ft) in length. The surface itself is pretty flat, without elevation changes, so fans can get the best view of the track-action, which gives a great atmosphere to the event.
Close to the city of Rimini, the Misano Adriatico circuit was constructed in 1972 and has since undergone an array of modifications. A regular scene for Italian Grands Prix throughout the 80s and early 90s, Misano returned to the MotoGP calendar in 2007 and has been upgraded and re-tarmaced in 2015.
Maverick Viñales:
“I’m still enjoying the happiness for my first MotoGP victory and also the first for Suzuki recently. The last race at Silverstone has been simply perfect, this as a result of the excellent job we have done as a team. Although I like Silverstone, and I had good feelings for the weekend, winning a MotoGP race is never an easy thing, and it came because both me and the bike have improved a lot, both in this year-and-a-half and also over the weekend in the UK. I feel comfortable and confident, my crew and the factory are supporting me with their best efforts and the victory is a reward to our job. After such an emotional weekend it is good to go immediately racing again and I will exploit this enthusiasm as a further push in Misano. The circuit is a good one, but also the GP is always emotional for the people and the supporters; last year was an amazing scenario and I hope we will feel the same affection this year.”
Aleix Espargaró:
“We go to Misano still with the emotions of last race in Silverstone, as we haven’t had time to have a break, and this is positive. After the latest races in the wet I lost a little bit of confidence, I struggled to find a good feeling with the bike and so it had been a tough period, but at Silverstone we managed to improve the machine and find new configurations that allowed me to recover my feeling. My race-pace was really fast, it’s a pity I did not have such so good starting position so I couldn’t fight further ahead. Anyway we’ll take advantage of the experience and try to exploit it in Misano, it will be a really interesting weekend and the circuit is so emotional and we are getting more-and-more competitive.”
Misano Video Preview: CLICK HERE
