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MotoGP
2002 - Round 14 - Sepang - Preview - Suzuki October 8th, 2002 - Sent to us by Suzuki |
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MotoGP
2002 - Round 14 - Sepang - Preview - Suzuki October 8th, 2002 - Sent to us by Suzuki |
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Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau go to
Malaysia with two goals in mind. The first is to continue with the task of race-developing the new 990cc four-stroke GSV-R racer for the 14th out of 16 races in its shake-down first season, so that the second version can start next season at full racing strength for a serious title challenge. The second is to get the best possible results, from a machine that has gone from early prototype at the start of the year to an increasingly accomplished racer capable of regular top 10 and even top-three rostrum finishes. Suzuki has a fine record at the magnificent state-of-the-art Sepang circuit, with Roberts claiming victory in 1999 and 2000, though knocked off while fighting for the lead last year - and it was here that Roberts and Gibernau met the new 200-plus horsepower GSV-R for the first time. That was on February 4, for pre-season tests. The bike was brand new, with only a few Japanese tests behind it. Now they get a first chance to compare the machine with its initial performance after almost a full season of steady development and continuous improvement. This will give an interesting measure of progress so far - but will not deflect the team or the riders from the task of getting on with the race. Another clear indication of improvement is that both riders have been achieving much better results recently, including a first top-three podium for Roberts at the Rio GP, the last race but one. Roberts has moved up into the top 10 of the championship, in spite of failing to score points at three out of the first five races. "All through the season the factory has been working hard and sending an almost constant supply of new bits and pieces," said team manager Garry Taylor. "We expect some more of the same at Sepang. "It was great to see so many senior factory people at the last round at Motegi in Japan, and we had a number of excellent meetings where technicians and riders were able to put their points directly to the factory engineers. That will surely help us get even better, especially with a view to next year's machine," he said. The middle of a trio of long-distance "flyaway" GPs held on consecutive weekends, the Malaysian round marks a fresh stage in the first MotoGP season, which pits the traditional 500cc two-strokes against new-generation 990cc four-strokes like the Suzuki. At Sepang, there will be 14 of the new four-strokes - double the number that started the year in April, as manufacturers enter wild card riders, or reward satellite teams that started out racing two-strokes with the latest versions of the new machines. Suzuki is no different, as it continues with the high-visibility race development of the new bike. Factory tester Akira Ryo, who finished second in the opening round of the year at Suzuka, will be joining Roberts and Gibernau in a factory liveried machine to bring the normal strength of two bikes up to three.  The Malaysian race poses special problems - especially baking heat and
energy-sapping humidity. Both take it out of the riders, technicians,
tyres and machines. The other tricky aspect to the track is the pair of
straights, linked with a wide hairpin bend, that finish an otherwise
rhythmical and technical lap. This puts the emphasis on sheer horsepower
rather than the finesse that pays such dividends over the rest of the
long lap.After the Malaysian round, the team will travel to Australia for the last flyaway race of the season, before returning to Europe for the final race of the first MotoGP year at Valencia, two weekends later. Roberts - "I'm not really looking at the championship position. My aim is to win it again: first is the only place that matters, and I'm going to Malaysia with the main aim of continuing to improve the bike. The more new stuff we get to test, the more feedback we can give to the engineers, and the more we can do to make next year's bike into a potential winner." Gibernau - "I hope we can get some decent practice sessions in at Malaysia. In Japan, we lost our way a little, and that costs you over the whole weekend. I'd like to get qualified at least on the second row, and then race the bike to the maximum." The first Malaysian GP was held in 1991, at the Shah Alam circuit on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur - and since then it has become a firm fixture on the calendar. Shah Alam remained its home until 1997, but while the technical track was interesting, the facilities were poor, and in 1998 it moved for one year to Johor, in the south of the Malaysian peninsula. That was only temporary, because the fine new Sepang circuit was soon to be constructed on a newly developed site close to the new Kuala Lumpur international airport, some way outside the city. The circuit was inaugurated with the motorcycle GP in 1999, and has since then also become a highly regarded F1 venue as well as regular home to the motorcycle GP. The huge glass-clad pit buildings and arched-roof grandstands are the first striking thing about the Sepang circuit, where little expense was spared to provide ultra-modern facilities for a world-class racing facility. Nothing was stinted for the circuit either, which was laid out round an unfashionably long lap of 3.447 miles (5.548km), making it one of the longer circuits on the motorcycle calendar. A technically interesting layout comprises mainly medium-speed bends, with the lap finishing with a pair of straights running up and down the vast double-sided grandstand.
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