TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR OUT OF THE POINTS IN ARGENTINA

Andrea Iannone: 16
Alex Rins: NC

The GP of Argentina turned out to be a very tricky one for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, with both Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins out of the points after the 25 laps of the race. The Italian ended his race in 16th place, while the Spaniard had to give up after 14 laps due to the pain.

The whole race had been a tough one for Iannone: stuck in the pack right after the start, he lost some positions after another rider crashed into him from behind; he managed not to crash his own bike, but lost precious positions. Then he was penalised with a “ride through” for a jump start he did at the beginning. This put him in the difficult position to catch up from the very bottom of the pack and ruined his race. His pace was very positive, close to the top riders, but not enough to close the gap. He finished in 16th place.

Rins ran into trouble and had pain in his right ankle. Jumping from the last place in the grid, he was able to advance his position, moving up to 15th place at the end of first lap and transition into 14th after lap 6, but then unfortunately he incurred in a crash in lap 7 after an overtake. He was able to rejoin the race from the bottom, but this required major exertion on his injured ankle, and he opted to withdraw.

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager
“This has been a very difficult weekend for us and the race was a real shame. This morning in the warmup Andrea showed a pretty fast pace, this gave us great hope for a positive result and to finish the first race of the season. Finally after the ride through, his pace was really good. Without the penalty he could probably have reached the top 6, and this is one thing we can consider positive. Alex was very strong riding the whole weekend with his injury, and his riding was also very good in race. He recovered many positions before he had the crash that caused greater pain, and we can’t blame him for the withdrawal. The important thing is that the injury didn't get worse because of the crash and the efforts he made. I feel frustrated with this race. We had some positives moments, but for sure we have to do better in the next GP.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“Leaving Argentina without any points is very hard to accept. Alex’ weekend started uphill because of his injury and ended badly because of the slide out of the race. He made great efforts to ride, learn, collect data, and finally try to be competitive in race. We respect this, and I hope he’ll get better results in the next races. With Andrea, we had the problem that he´d been hit by another rider on corner 1, and the jump start that caused the ride through penalization, this really compromised the whole race. We simply have to forget this day and look forward, however, because from this bad we can come away with some positives: we have focused on some areas that can be improved to deliver a better package. Most importantly, I still believe that we can aim for some good points while improving. Probably Austin is not one of the circuits that best suit our machines, but we have to work hard from the very beginning and then get good and ready for the comeback to Europe where we will find more friendly tracks. I think we will be able to get a fresh, new start of this season, forgetting what happened so far and increasing our opportunities.”

Andrea Iannone
“I got a ride through penalization and my feeling is that it was too harsh. In my opinion I didn’t gain any advantage because I just moved a bit but then immediately stopped. On the contrary, I also got hit by another rider at corner 1, causing me to lose many positions. Because of this, my opinion is that the Race Direction could have given another evaluation of the situation, and maybe not dictate such a penalising ride through. Of course this, together with the contact at corner 1, in which I lost many positions, affected my whole race. It’s a shame because my pace after the penalty was good, maybe not enough for the podium, but for sure I could have fought for the top 6. It’s not been a good start of the season for me. We have to change our pace and get a new start. We deserve better results.”

Alex Rins
“The truth is that it has been a tough weekend. We knew it would be hard due to the injury, and in fact it hurt me for the whole three days, but we wanted to start the race and in the end, we achieved it. Despite jumping from the very back, I’m pretty happy with myself because I managed to stay cool and make an excellent start. During the race I felt pretty comfortable with the ankle, it didn’t hurt too much, but I felt bad with the braking. After some laps in 15th place, I tried to overtake in the only possible corner - the entrance of corner 13, and managed to get into 14th place, but then I lost control of the front end and crashed. It was not a bad crash but I hit my foot and the pain increased, thus not allowing me to finish the race. Now it’s time to look ahead and go to Austin. I like that circuit very much and I hope to recover a lot with some rest and physiotherapy during these days, in order to arrive in Texas in considerably better condition.

GP of Argentina – Final classification:
1. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 41'45.060
2. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – +2.915
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – +3.754
4. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – +6.523
5. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – +15.504
6. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – +18.241
7. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – +20.046
8. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – +25.480
9. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – +25.665
10. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – +26.403
11. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – +26.952
12. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – +41.875
13. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – +42.770
14. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +43.085
15. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +43.452
16. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +46.219
Not classified
Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 11 Laps
Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 11 Laps
Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 12 Laps
Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 14 Laps
Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 14 Laps
Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 22 Laps
Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 0 Lap

Riders World Championship Classification after the GP of Argentina
1. Maverick VIÑALES, Yamaha – 50
2. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha – 36
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati – 20
4. Scott REDDING, Ducati – 17
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Honda – 16
6. Jonas FOLGER, Yamaha – 16
7. Jack MILLER, Honda – 15
8. Marc MARQUEZ, Honda – 13
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Ducati – 13
10. Dani PEDROSA, Honda – 11
11. Johann ZARCO, Yamaha – 11
12. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia – 10
13. Danilo PETRUCCI, Ducati – 9
14. Loris BAZ, Ducati – 9
15. Karel ABRAHAM, Ducati – 8
16. Alex RINS, Suzuki – 7
17. Hector BARBERA, Ducati – 6
18. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati – 5
19. Tito RABAT, Honda – 5
20. Pol ESPARGARO, KTM – 2
21. Bradley SMITH, KTM – 1
22. Andrea IANNONE, Suzuki
23. Sam LOWES, Aprilia