A long-haul flight has taken Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins to Japan, where the MotoGP Championship is about to begin a series of three consecutive races before reaching its culmination in the final round at Valencia. With only four races to the end of the season, the MotegiGP is a very exciting race for Suzuki and Team SUZUKI ECSTAR. It is located very close to the company’s headquarter in Hamamatsu, making this GP the home race for many people working for the MotoGP project.

After a tough race weekend in Aragon, the Team settled in for two additional test days that allowed riders and engineers to collect important data and racing information. The work was split into two main objectives, what can be derived for next year´s development and the important insight that can be immediately and directly applied for improvement in these last races.

The GP in Japan will be raced at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, a track that proved to be a positive one for the GSX-RR last year and very much enjoyed by both Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins. It is a modern facility located within the vast natural beauty of the northern Kanto district. It consists of a 2.4 km (1.5 mile) oval – meant to present American motorsport culture to the country – and a 4.8 km (2.9 mile) road course, where the MotoGP™ race will take place over a total distance of 24 laps (115.2 km - 71.5 miles). The track the riders will be rocketing around holds six left-hand corners and eight right-hand ones.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager

“We are finishing the championship and we are eager to do it in the best possible form. We are embarking on our big trip to Asia and we are facing one of the most exciting races for Suzuki, its home race. Motegi is one of the usual stop-and-go tracks, but we have good memories from last year´s experience. After the testing in Aragon a couple of weeks ago, we hope to make some improvements for this three-in-a-row race period.”

Andrea Iannone

“The Japan GP will be thrilling for all of us as it is the home race for Suzuki. We are expecting many engineers to join us at the circuit, and it will be interesting to meet all the people that develop the bike that I ride every weekend. It is a chance to speak directly with them and I also believe they will be happy to see their GSX-RR racing live. The circuit itself looks to be a good one for us, on paper. We are making real progress lately with the development and hopefully we will have a positive race. I would really like to have a good race to reward them for all their efforts.”

Alex Rins

“It’s always nice to go to Japan. It’s the first of the three aways races after the long months in Europe, and it’s interesting to experience such a rich and distant culture. It gives us the chance to further our knowledge and enjoy different ways of living. I’m very happy to try out the circuit with a MotoGP machine and it will be fun to meet all the people that work on the MotoGP project from the Factory. Now we are facing three consecutive races and it's going to be interesting to check how everything works out after the testing held at the Motorland circuit after the Aragon Grand Prix. I look forward to the coming races a lot and I think we can do much better than in Aragon where the track didn't suit us well. I would like to score some good points and try to finish the season in the best possible way.