Spielberg and its impressive landscape play host once again, and after a dramatic race last weekend, it’s all to play for in Round 11.
Team Suzuki Ecstar made a promising step in their quest for glory at the Red Bull Ring last week when they debuted the new ride height device, this addition to the GSX-RR received good feedback from both sides of the garage and with work still to be done to fine-tune the device, strong results are expected again this time out.
Joan Mir charged through to a brilliant second place last time out after taking his best qualifying result of the season. Riding in a measured and calm way, he brought home a crucial 20 points rather than risk pushing over the limit. This result moved him to third in the championship standings.
Alex Rins had a tricky time of it around the circuit on Sunday after struggling to find the feel under hard braking. This is something the Spaniard is confident of resolving ahead of this weekend. Nevertheless, his determination brought him a useful seventh place finish and moved him up one place in the championship.
Joan Mir:
“The team did amazing work during the summer break and the bike is feeling better than ever, especially with the new device. I was really satisfied with my performance on Sunday, the win was a little bit beyond my reach but second place was a nice way to repay the team and to kickstart the second half of the season. I’m looking forward to riding again this weekend and aiming for the win, we certainly have good information collected from last week’s race and that can help us. My performance is already good here, and if we can find those improvements in a few areas it could allow me to get to the top spot. Let’s see what we can do!”
Alex Rins:
“It was a strange weekend for me at the Styrian GP, I had some really good pace over the practice and then I struggled a bit when it came to the race. But the team and I are working to find the best settings ahead of this next race weekend, and I’m sure I can achieve a good result. It is important that we analyse all the data to discover what happened during the first race in Austria to improve our performance for the second race. Usually the second race at the same circuit is pretty tight because everyone improves, so we will need to keep our focus. My seventh place finish last Sunday was OK but obviously I’m hungry for more and I hope to be much higher this time out, I know I can be fast in the corners and that’s important.”
Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader & Team Director:
“Last weekend we were satisfied with the progress we made while using the new ride height adjuster. As we’ve said, it’s only the first prototype and it can still be improved upon, so we’re sure it will continue to help us in the coming races. Joan got a really nice podium on Sunday, which was a great way to restart the season. Alex struggled a bit with a few small issues but he was still able to bring home decent points and this is important. This is always one of the most unpredictable circuits of the season, not least because of the mountain weather, and we have seen that the other manufacturers can also be strong here, but we’re confident of another successful weekend.”
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