TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR RETURNS TO RACING AT INDY

Holiday time is over for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR riders Aleix Espargarò and Maverick Viñales who are ready and excited to get back on their GSX-RR machines and begin the second half of the 2015 season this weekend.

The team has arrived in the US, where the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, a circuit that is world-reknowned for the famous 500 mile race, takes place on Sunday. In fact, a part of the oval circuit that hosts the Indy car race is included in the track that the MotoGP™ machines will use.

The two factory GSX-RRs will take to the track of Indianapolis dressed-up in the same iconic colours that debuted at the last GP at Sachsering as a tribute to the long-winning history of the GSX-R model, and which is celebrating its 30th birthday this year.

Espargarò and Viñales both come from an intense training program that kept them busy during the summer break with the objective of keeping their physical condition at the very maximum for the demanding effort that a MotoGP™ machine requires. Their holiday started after the Misano test in mid-July, where they further investigated the GSX-RR’s potential and found new set-up options for the machines during the grand prix weekends.

The International Motor Speedway has a history that dates back to 1909 for the first car event, raced on the original oval track, while MotoGP™ only arrived at Indy for the first time in 2008.

The layout of the track for MotoGP™ is 4.170km (2.59 miles) in length, has 16 turns and incorporates the main straight of the famous oval circuit including the yard of bricks from where the track gets its nickname ‘The Brickyard.’ From there, between turns 1 and 2, the course uses part of the oval, before meandering through the vast interior of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The MotoGP™ riders will race on Sunday over a distance of 26 laps (112.6 km – 69.9 miles) and the circuit record lap is 1’32.831s.

Aleix Espargaro:

“The race in Indy will be fascinating becasue of the long history that goes with the circuit, but it won’t be that easy for us. The layout worries me a little because of the long straight, but at the same time I’m excited to get back to racing after the positive tests we did in Misano before the break. We had the chance of veryfing and developing many things and at the end we collected much data for all the forthcoming races. We are half-way through the season and we have made big improvements since the beginning, the team is working hard and I am focused on getting some good results. My position in the championship doesn’t reflect the effort that we are putting in and the improvements that we have made, we need a little more luck for the upcoming races and I’m sure that we will have even better results.”

Maverick Viñales:

“This summer break has been very positive for me, I could train a lot and get ready for the second-half of the season, but we also made the tests in Misano and the outcome was really important. We could learn a lot about the machine and find new directions to follow for its set-up. We know that we need to be more effective from the very beginning of the race weekend and be immediately competitive in order to develop the bike and be fast in qualifying, therefore improving our start position. This is crucial in all races. Indy will be fascinating, as it is such an historic circuit, but it will also require us to make a big effort to be competitive, thanks to its layout. After the first half of the season I feel that the team is giving me every support and this summer break has meant that I could train hard, so I’m feeling in good shape to get back riding.”