Currently sixteenth in the provisional World Championship ranking with 37 points, Iannone has no excessive illusions upon arriving in Motegi. Faced with Marc Marquez and his 224 points, he looks a little pale with four places in the top 10 and five retirements.
In the manufacturers' standings, Suzuki is quite discreet with 64 points, compared to 274 for Honda, 257 for Yamaha and 248 for Ducati. It's a race, there are ups and downs. Although the factory is going through a difficult period, it has nonetheless demonstrated its know-how in the past and things can only get better in the future.
This weekend will be an opportunity for many people from the Suzuki factory linked to the MotoGP project to see their GSX-RR in action because, as the official press release specifies, “ Motegi is located very close to the company's headquarters in Hamamatsu, making this GP the home race for many people working for the MotoGP project ". We wish them a good weekend, even if they perhaps expected better from this season, after Maverick Vinales, having finished third in the Japanese Grand Prix last year, then declared “ this is not our limit ».
Is Andrea Iannone comfortable at Motegi? His track record on this Japanese circuit includes a tenth place in 2007 in 125. It was more complicated the following year in 2008 with a pile-up during the first lap in the company of Marc Marquez, Jules Cluzel, Tito Rabat, Andrea Iannone and Pol Espargaro.
2009 was the year of Iannone's triumph at Motegi in 125, when he won the Japanese GP ahead of Julian Simon, Espargaro Pol, Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez. Andrea was then riding an Aprilia for Ongetta Team ISPA with teammate Dominique Aegerter.
He won for the second time on the Twin Ring in 2011, in Moto2 ahead of Marquez, Lüthi and Bradl. In MotoGP, his best result was sixth place in 2014 on a Ducati Pramac.
On the Suzuki side, Kenny Roberts Jr won the first Grand Prix (contested then in 500 cc) at Motegi in 3 and repeated the victory in 1999. Since the introduction of MotoGP in 2000, the best result for Suzuki has been the fifth place with John Hopkins in 2002, before Maverick Vinales' third position in 2005, ahead of his teammate Aleix Espargaro then fourth.
According to Andrea Iannone, who are " The Japanese GP will be exciting for all of us as it is the home race for Suzuki. We expect many engineers to join us on the circuit, and it will be interesting to meet all the people who are developing the bike I ride every weekend. It’s 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 like a good one for us, on paper. We are making real progress lately with development and I hope we have a positive race. I would really like to have a good race to reward them for all their efforts. »
According to his team manager Davide Brivio, « We are finishing the championship and we are looking forward to doing it in the best possible shape. We begin our big trip to Asia and we face one of the most exciting races for Suzuki, its home race.
“Motegi is one of the usual stop-and-go circuits, but we have fond memories of last year's experience. After the Aragon test a few weeks ago, we hope to make some improvements for these three consecutive races. »
Photos and illustration © Team Suzuki Ecstar / Suzuki MotoGP
