From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RIO RACE

MotoGP racing’s hectic midsummer schedule takes Team Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts Jr. and John Hopkins down south to Rio this weekend.

It’s a long haul, one weekend after the Dutch TT in the far north of Holland, and takes the team to the heart of the Brazilian mid-winter.

Conditions could hardly be worse than those at Assen in summer, when two days of almost continuous rain abated just in time for the race.

Roberts, World Champion in 2000, will again be using the latest revised-firing-order upgrade to the powerful 990cc V4 engine. This will be his third race on the development motor which gave him his best qualifying position of the year at Assen, heading the third row of the new-this-year three-per-row grid. A technical gremlin spoiled his race and he finished just out of the points.

John Hopkins will again race the “standard” engine, which at this stage is actually marginally faster on top speed, but less rider-friendly. At Assen, he qualified one row behind Roberts and claimed points after a typically determined ride.

For Roberts, the race revisits the track where he secured the 2000 500cc World Championship and where in 2002 he took a first rostrum finish on the new Suzuki GSV-R MotoGP four-stroke machine.

Hopkins has less happy memories: Last year, a heavy crash during qualifying ruled the 21-year-old Anglo-American racer out of the race.

Both are optimistic, after significant improvements to the GSV-R this season have shown that the factory, a traditional stalwart of GP racing, is clearly on the path back towards the winner’s circle.

“Both riders have been getting increasingly competitive during the first part of this season and the factory has been continuing with their hard work to get the best out of the motorcycle,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“So far, we haven’t had the results we think we deserve, but team morale is still very high and we know if we keep on in the same way we’ll get there,” he said.

“We’re confident we can overcome the gremlins that hit Kenny’s new engine at the last race and we’re looking forward to another chance to turn our progress into results,” he said.

The Brazilian track has a long back straight, but top speed does not seem to be the only ingredient in a fast lap time. The rest of the circuit comprises long and fast corners with a bumpy and slippery surface. It’s a technical challenge for the riders to find the fastest way over the bumps and ripples and for engineers to maximise chassis, suspension and tyre performance.

Rio is the seventh of 16 rounds in the World Championship and the fourth in a punishing series of six races over eight weekends. The following weekend is free, and then racing resumes again with full intensity with the German GP followed a week later by the British round.

This year’s Rio GP is almost three months earlier than usual, has been changed from a Saturday to a Sunday race and uniquely, the main MotoGP race will be the first of the day at 11:30, to mesh with European TV schedules.

KENNY ROBERTS Jr.:

“The bike is moving forward but we need to keep working to make it really competitive. We’ll get the bike as best possible for the race and then see what happens.

JOHN HOPKINS:

The last two races have shown that our bike is getting more competitive. We have a good set-up now and it’s a lot easier to push the bike deep into the turn. Bridgestone need to improve the tyres but we know they are doing that. I think we have some good chances for Rio.”

ABOUT THIS RACE:

The first GP in Brazil took place in 1987 at the inland circuit of Goiania. The race stayed there for two more years, and then began a troubled search for a new home. After several false starts and cancellations, and a single round at the F1 ci rcuit of Interlagos at Sao Paulo, the event moved to the rebuilt Nelson Piquet circuit outside Rio in 1995. The next year saw the name change to the Rio GP for 1996 and 1997. Another late cancellation in 1998 continued the oft-interrupted history of Brazilian GP racing but it rejoined the calendar in 1999 to resume business as usual. This year’s race has been moved from its September date and Saturday race day to Sunday in early July.

ABOUT THIS CIRCUIT:

The Rio circuit was rebuilt in the Nineties as an early example of an occasional new trend of circuits incorporating NASCAR-style banked oval tracks with the three-mile road-racing circuit sharing part of the tarmac. Bumps and surface-changes at these junctions further complicate an already bumpy surface of a track much more technically challenging than the simple layout suggests. Apart from a spectacular location on reclaimed marshland among towering granite peaks, the Nelson Piquet’s plus point is its scale. With huge grandstands adding to the atmosphere, looping corners are wide and fast. Like other seldom-used tracks, the surface is hard to read. Grip varies according to temperature and though the racing line improves with use during practice and qualifying days, the track remains very slippery off line. Accurate riding is important and overtaking difficult.

RACE DATA:

Nelson Piquet Circuit – Jacarepagua.

Circuit Length: 3.065 miles / 4.933 km.
Lap Record: 1:50.453 – 99.905 mph / 160.781 km/h. V Rossi (Honda), 2003
2003 Race Winner: Rossi
2003 Race Average: 44:36.633 – 98.943 mph / 159.234 km/h
2003 Fastest Race Lap: see lap record
2003 Pole Position: Rossi 1:49.038
2003 Kenny Roberts: 17th, qualified 19th 1:51.839 (Suzuki)
2003 John Hopkins: Did not start (injured)