Team Suzuki Press Office – September 20.
The upcoming Aragon GP will be the last European round before the following three far-away races in Asia/Oceania and therefore an important date to consolidate the latest configurations and set ups.
Alex Rins is approaching the Spanish race as his first race in Spain, as he couldn’t race in Jerez and Barcelona due to the injury. The young Spaniard has been consistently improving his performances since his comeback after injury. The 8th place achieved in the last round in Misano makes the top ten within his grasp. He is still on a learning curve, only hoping to get as much experience as he can, but his results are improving, not just in the timesheets but also according to the riding data collected from the #42 GSX-RR.
Andrea Iannone is arriving in Aragon with a bitter taste in his mouth after he withdrew from his home race in Misano ten days ago. His performance is still affected by some troubles he encounters finding the perfect feeling with his GSX-RR, especially when it comes to braking and corner entry, but the hard work done by engineers and technicians is providing him with some solid improvements, which hopefully will be valuable in Spain this weekend.
The Motorland Circuit of Aragon is a modern facility that was remodelled in 2010 to fulfil the security and standards requested by the MotoGP™ organisation. The origins of the Grand Prix have their roots in the history of street racing in Alcañiz and the circuit has hosted events throughout the years between 1963 and 2003. Eventually it was modernised by the renowned German circuit architect Hermann Tilke.
The track is 5.077km (3.16 miles) long and has 17 turns: 10 left-handers and seven right-handers. The longest straight is 968 m (3175.85 ft.) and the Grand Prix will be raced over 23 laps, which correspond to a total length of 116.8 km or 72.7 miles.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We are getting closer to the final rush of the season and Aragon will be the penultimate round in Europe, therefore it is an important race for the search of that competitiveness we’ve been persuing since the beginning of the season. We are very happy for the progress that Alex made in the last races and the objective is to continue in this positive path. At the same time we are working hard to deliver Andrea a machine that suits his needs and gives him a better feeling to fulfil the potential that I believe he has. After the race we will stay in Aragon for a couple of days of private testing with both Alex and Andrea, to make up for the ones we missed after Misano due to the inclimit weather which only allowed Sylvain Guintoli to ride as test rider. This will give a more comprehensive amount of data and information, combining race and test. They will be very useful to well-prepare for the last four races and also looking ahead to 2018.”
Alex Rins
“We are going to Aragon at what I feel to be a good moment. Since the beginning of the season, with calm and consistency, we are becoming better able to understand the GSX-RR and also the MotoGP class. Little by little we are managing to be stronger and I hope in Aragon we will continue to grow. This will be the very first GP I can race in Spain because I was out for the injury in Jerez and Barcelona; for sure the Spanish people at the circuit will give me further enthusiasm and inspiration.”
Andrea Iannone
“I hope in Aragon we will be able to see better results than of late. The MotorLand circuit is a very nice and I have good memories from there. Although in Misano neither myself nor Alex were able to lap in the scheduled test. I know that Sylvain gave some very important feedback to the engineers. Hopefully the information will be of help for us in Aragon. I can’t wait to ride my GSX-RR again and try to improve the feeling, with the hope of a positive race to give us a push in our approach to the next three races.”
