Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s European adventure rolls on
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP continues its hectic European tour this coming
weekend as the MotoGP circus heads to the Montmelo Circuit
near Barcelona in Spain for the Catalonian GP – the
second leg of a busy nine week schedule that covers six European
races.
John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will be taking to the 4.7km
circuit for the first free practice session less than five
days since the chequered flag dropped at the end of the Italian
Grand Prix in Italy. Hopkins finished a spirited fifth in
Mugello last Sunday with Vermeulen close behind in eighth,
and the pair will want to keep up the good run of form that
the team is enjoying. The season to date has produced a race
win, a podium and ten top-10 finishes - between the two riders
- in the six races so far.
Montmelo is a circuit that Hopkins particularly likes and
he finished fourth there last season – his equal best
result of 2006. Vermeulen too had a strong race last year,
and at that time produced his best MotoGP finish by bringing
his Suzuki GSV-R home in sixth. The Circuit de Catalunya is
located 20km north of Barcelona and is one of the regular
test tracks on the MotoGP calendar. It is a good barometer
of a MotoGP bike’s performance, as it requires all elements
of a machine’s performance to be at the very top level.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will start its preparations for Sunday’s
25-lap race with two free practice sessions on Friday. Saturday
will have another free session and an hour of qualifying in
the afternoon to determine staring positions for the race,
which gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT)
on Sunday 10th June.
John Hopkins:
“I really enjoy Barcelona and I always seem to go well
there. The track has a bit of everything for me and the 990cc
bike performed well there, so I am sure the new 800 also will
– it’s a huge step forward from last year’s
bike. I got a fourth there in 2006 and was very pleased with
that, but I will certainly be planning to go a few steps higher
than that this weekend! So far the season has been real good,
but I know we have the package to make it even better!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“I know the track quite well and have enjoyed it whenever
I’ve been there. It is like a home GP for me really
as I live in Andorra and Barcelona is just a short drive from
my house – maybe I’ll get a bit of extra Spanish
support! I found Mugello last weekend pretty tough so it will
be good to come to track that I like and try to be competitive
from the first session. I am looking for a good result this
weekend as we definitely have the bike to do it, as both John
and I have shown in previous weeks. We need to keep our good
run going!”
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