Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

MotoGP riders ready to meet targets at Aragon

Reigning champion Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was joined on the dais by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT).

MotoGP riders

Bengaluru, September 20: Ahead of track action at Motorland Aragon, the riders got into gear in the pre-event press conference with most of them debriefing their strategy to catch up with FIM MotoFP World Championship runaway leader Marc Marquez.

Reigning champion Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was joined on the dais by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT).

The field start pushing again in practice on Friday (September 20), with the MotoGP race scheduled to start at the slightly earlier time of 1pm local time (4.30pm IST) on Sunday (September 22).

Weekend target

Weekend target

Marquez, who was the first on the mike, spoke about his targets for the weekend.

"The target this weekend is to be at the top of the podium or be on the podium, that's the main target, then try and fight for the top step. Last weekend was hard for us all weekend but in the end we did it, finished at the top and took 25 points in the FIM MotoGP World Championship."

Bouncing back

Bouncing back

Dovizioso, who is second in the standings and had a tougher Misano considering he won there last year - thinks MotorLand may be chance to bounce back.

"It was a bit difficult, but after the test we knew it was impossible to fight for the victory or podium like the year before. But we were focused on what we could do and practice by practice we improved."

Local boy

Local boy

Rins was the next man on the mike, and for him? You can't really get more of a home race, as he hails from very close to the track.

"This is my home GP, so I will try to give my maximum to do the best. For sure, every time we go on track, I try to give my maximum, to put my Suzuki on the top," he said.

Key threat

Key threat

Another key threat could be Vinales, and he was upbeat as he took up the mike.

"Yes for sure Misano was a really good race for us. Despite two or three laps we were in a good rhythm, really good, recovering something at the end. Aragon is a good track for me, I really like it. It's a track where I'll give my maximum and for sure I'll do that this time."

Number 12

Number 12

And has the number 12 sized up Quartararo? "Normally, I don't know, there is like, corner 8-9 where he is faster than us, but we are faster in 11-12, so it's like this. We are battling tenth by tenth always and that is very nice because it motivates us to go faster and brings Yamaha to the top.

"Every time we fight to be a bit faster together we increase the level and we reached at Silverstone and now at Misano to fight for the win."

(By a special arrangement with Dorna Sports)

Story first published: Friday, September 20, 2019, 14:59 [IST]
Other articles published on Sep 20, 2019