THE 300 – SUZUKI MAKE IT COUNT ON RECORD-BREAKING DAY IN SPAIN
Sunday September 27th 2020 was a record-breaking day for Team Suzuki Ecstar in the motorcycle racing premier class as Joan Mir and Alex Rins powered their way through to a double podium at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya.
The thrilling 24-lap race saw stellar performances from the home riders, Mir and Rins, as the pair precisely picked their way through the field, taking advantage of their confidence and feel with the GSX-RR until the chequered flag.
Mir took second place, with Rins following closely in third. The last time two ‘boys in blue’ stood on the rostrum together was back in 2007 with Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen, when they did the double at the Misano World Circuit.
As well as matching this achievement, there were yet more records to be broken in Catalunya on Sunday: Mir’s excellent run of form in MotoGP’s triple-header rounds, where he snatched podium positions from his rivals three weeks running, meant he became the first Suzuki rider to score a hat-trick of podiums in the premier class for 20 years. The last rider to do so was Kenny Roberts Jr in 2000, the year he went on to become World Champion for Suzuki.
But the achievements did not stop there and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s talented squad added another accomplishment to the illustrious Suzuki success record, reaching 300 podiums in the premier class!
This comes at a particularly momentous time as the brand celebrates its 100th Anniversary in 2020.
New Zealand’s Keith Turner was the first Suzuki rider to stand on the rostrum in the 500cc class back in 1971 at the Austrian Grand Prix. Since then, an amazing 54 different riders have put the Suzuki name on the podium in the premier class, with some perhaps unexpected names inhabiting the prestigious list, such as Graziano Rossi.
The rider with the most appearances on the box for Suzuki is Kevin Schwantz with a whopping 51, followed by Barry Sheene with 31, and Randy Mamola with 21.
With so many reasons to celebrate, Team Suzuki Ecstar were in high spirits after the close of the Catalan Grand Prix, in the mood to reflect on their distinguished past while very much rejoicing in their current success with Mir and Rins.
Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader:
“It was a great feeling to see both Joan and Alex on the podium in Barcelona, and I know this result wouldn’t be possible without the hard work from all the staff involved. Realising that we got Suzuki’s 300th podium in the premier class brings a very emotional feeling to us all, to be part of Suzuki’s history in this 100th Anniversary year is something really special. But I view this as just another step for us, we are already looking to the future and focused on achieving victories – we want to continue making history.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“We are very proud to give our small contribution to Suzuki in achieving this great result. Three hundred podiums is a very important number, I’m happy that both Alex and Joan at the same time contributed to that. Now we feel an extra drive to keep representing with such a vast history behind us. I just want to say thank you very much to all our team staff, to the Suzuki engineers in the Factory, to the whole company behind us and of course to all the fans; thank you for supporting us. I promise that we will give everything and try our best to continue like this and to increase this number!”
