MotoGP riders eager to get back on track at Indianapolis

The 2014 MotoGP Championship will roar back into life today when the riders take to the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway getting the second half of this year’s season underway. This is the seventh year the Brickyard has hosted the championship and fans will be eager to see if points leader Marc Marquez can make it ten wins from ten starts. Mick Doohan is the only other rider to have achieved the same feat in the modern era of the premier class.

The spotlight continues to shine on Marquez and his record-breaking season with the 21-year-old leading the championship by 77 points ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa who himself has two victories at IMS (2010&2012) while Marquez boasts a 2013 MotoGP victory as well as two Moto2 wins (2011&2012). The championship leader was in an upbeat humor after the summer break and is eager to get back on track and to sample the changes made to the circuit.

Speaking ahead of getting on track in Free Practice Marquez said, “I’m really eager to get back on the bike in Indianapolis! I’ve always liked the track and it will be interesting to see the changes that they’ve made, so we’ll need to pay attention from the first practice session and get back into our rhythm as quickly as possible!”

Pedrosa echoed his teammate’s comments and is looking to carry on his momentum from the last round in Germany. He said, “Indy is a track I’ve had good results at in the past few years so my aim is to arrive there and fight again for the victory. Obviously we have new track layout to look at so it will be important to take some time with my team to examine these changes and be prepared for the race.”

The infield section of the 2.591-mile IMS road course has been resurfaced following last year’s race and there have been a few changes to the course layout. The opening section of track has been revised from turns one to four that will see a more flowing section with the hairpin at turn 4 also slightly less severe. Turns 14, 15 and 16 have also been changed leading to less extreme changes of direction and in turn being more forgiving on the Bridgestone tires used in MotoGP.

This placed man in this year’s championship, Valentino Rossi was very positive when speaking about his year so far and the track changes. “For me the start of the season was very good. We had some good races, but unfortunately I was not able to win though our results were very consistent. We’ll keep working to improve the results. I think that the improvements are quite big, a lot of the bumps seem to be gone and the new surface looks a lot better.”

Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo was also upbeat after signing a new two-year deal with his employers and said, “I am very proud to have reached this agreement with Yamaha because it was always my priority and I want to end my career with them. I had a lot of problems in the first half of the year but I think that we can learn from this and come back stronger. I’m really fit and I’ve been training a lot over the summer, I’m fit, slim and motivated.”

The MotoGP riders get onto track today for the first two Free Practice sessions beginning at 9.55am local time.