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• Dani Pedrosa will celebrate his 28th birthday on race day.
• Marc Marquez has finished the last seven races in either first or second position, with four wins.
• Maria Herrera debuts in the World Championship at the scene of her first CEV Repsol win.
The Motorcycle World Championship visits Spanish territory for the third time this season, heading to the MotorLand Aragon circuit for the fourteenth round of the year. The Aragon Grand Prix is a home round for MotoGP riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, plus Moto3 talents Alex Rins, Alex Marquez and the debuting Maria Herrera.
Built in 2009 and a host of World Championship races since 2010, the Aragon track has seen Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa take a win apiece on their previous visits. The dazzling rookie of the premier class, Marquez will also have the experience of a test held back in June to fall back on, and will start the Grand Prix with useful data with which to try to defend his lead of 34 points in the World Championship. Trying to cut the gap will be the goal of his teammate, Dani Pedrosa, MotoGP’s most recent winner at MotorLand.
In the lower cylinder class, Alex Rins added to the excitement at the last round by taking a fourth victory of the year. With ten podium finishes from twelve races, the Repsol rider is engaged in a fight for the title, with his teammate, Alex Marquez, now a regular on the podium. Marquez has scored three podiums from the last four rounds, confirming his excellent progress this season. The two will be joined by Maria Herrera who, after two wins in the CEV Repsol, has earned an invitation to compete at the Grand Prix as a Moto3 wild card.
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Dani Pedrosa
“I’ve always done well in Aragón and I’m looking forward to racing in front of our home crowd again, the support is always great and gives you motivation! We had a test on Monday after Misano and found some positive things that I hope will help us here in Motorland, especially in corner exit. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Marc Márquez
“It will be nice to return home to race in front of our home fans in Aragón this weekend! The track -which is one of my favourites, has technical first and final sections, and you need to be strong in cornering. We’ve had good results there in the past two years so I hope to continue this way and we’ve also been testing there already this year on the MotoGP machine, so we have some data. After the race in Misano, we had a good test on the Monday and definitely found some positive settings, so I’m looking forward to trying them out this weekend in Aragon!”
Álex Rins
“MotorLand is a circuit I like a lot. It is also very close to the town where I spend my summers and that will make the race a bit more special. Friends and family will be along to support me. Whether you like it or not, that motivates you to want to do well there. Above all we must keep calm and focus on getting a great result. This year, the overall feeling is good and I feel very comfortable with the bike. The layout is a bit tricky; it has some rather slow corners and the Corkscrew section, which is a blind descent. The last turn of the circuit is a site at which many races are decided and if you trail another rider onto the straight, you can overtake.”
Álex Márquez
“I like Aragon and I am quite familiar with it from the Spanish Championship. This is good for us, but last year in the World Championship the weekend was a bit tricky. We are very calm, as it is a track where I feel comfortable riding fast. From the first minute I will try to be very focused and avoid crashes. The goal is to improve my performance in the qualifying session, which I think is what where we have dropped off a bit in recent races.”
María Herrera
“I hope to learn a lot at this Grand Prix, because I will be alongside World Championship riders who are all very fast. I do not feel any pressure because what I need is to gain experience. I’ll be satisfied if I can lower the times I rode there in the CEV Repsol race. Above all, my goal is to finish the weekend having learnt a lot. I love the MotorLand track, not only because I took my first win there in the CEV Repsol, but because it’s a fast track and suits my riding style very well.”
