Voltcom Crescent Suzuki heads to the Italian Riviera and the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli this week for round eight of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship – the final European round before two back-to-back flyaways herald the 2015 summer break.

A successful test at Portimao left Alex Lowes and Randy de Puniet positive and raring to tackle the Rimini track after making significant improvements to their respective Yoshimura-powered GSX-R’s. Having achieved an eighth place finish after a challenging Misano debut last season, Lowes is eager to exceed his previous WSBK performance on his 2015 Suzuki, while his team-mate de Puniet – no stranger to San Marino with seven races and numerous tests throughout his GP career – is looking forward to his debut visit on the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is located 25kms from the Republic of San Marino and just 3kms from Italy’s Adriatic coast. Designed in 1969 and thoroughly modernised over the past 10 years, the 4,226m clockwise layout incorporates 10 right and six left-hand corners and is a firm favourite with both fans and riders due to its close racing and passionate atmosphere.

The weekend’s action will follow the standard European schedule with two free practices on Friday June 19th at 11:15hrs and 15:00hrs local time (10:15 and 14:00BST), a further two practices and two Superpole sessions on Saturday and the all-important 21 lap races at 10:30hrs and 13:10hrs local time (09:30 and 12:10BST) on Sunday 21st June.

Alex Lowes:

“I like the Misano track, but it was one of the most difficult weekends last year, for me, Eugene and the whole team; it’s never nice knowing we’ve struggled there in the past but I’m hoping we can lay those ghosts to rest this year. I really like the layout and the whole place – the atmosphere at Italian races is always fantastic and it’s by the sea which adds an extra element – so I’m looking forward to getting there. I’m hoping for a normal weekend, to build on the developments made in Portimao and getting back in the mix for race day.”

Randy de Puniet:

“Misano is a tight track but it’s nice to race. You have fast corners, slow corners and I’ve always had a good feeling there. With the developments made with the GSX-R at the Portimao test I’m really pleased and happy to go to Misano. I’m hoping to start with the same base we found in Portugal and continue to make more improvements throughout the weekend so we can start to return to a normal race pattern and have a good result on Sunday.”