Rizla Suzuki has made a transatlantic dash to ‘The Golden State’ of California in The United States of America for the 10th round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship.
Álvaro Bautista is in a confident mood following his impressive seventh place last time out at the Sachsenring. He is planning to continue with the same vein of work that the team produced in Germany and move closer to the top-six. Bautista will certainly be looking for better luck on his second visit to the American circuit - his first race at Laguna ended unceremoniously last year when he was knocked off by another rider on only the third lap. The Spaniard will be determined this time to make up for that as he continues to build on his form from recent races.
The Laguna Seca circuit is situated about 160kms south of San Francisco near the towns of Monterey and Seaside. The area was originally a field artillery target range and manoeuvre site belonging to the US Army and the circuit is actually built on a dried-up lake. The 3,610m layout features 11 corners – four right and seven left – and includes probably one of the most incredible turns on any racetrack in the world: the famous ‘Corkscrew’ is a left and right hand combination with a huge drop in elevation that gives a feeling of falling off the edge of a cliff as the riders approach it at high-speeds.
Rizla Suzuki has three 45-minute practice sessions on Friday and Saturday morning, followed by an hour of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 10 on the MotoGP calendar and the excitement will get underway for the 32-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT) with Bautista hoping to follow in the footsteps of early pioneers and find gold in the Californian hills!
Álvaro Bautista:
“I have a good memory of Laguna from last year – except for the race! It is a nice track and very difficult. I am really looking forward to it after Sachsenring because I am very confident we can continue what we are doing and make further steps. The whole team is in a good mood and we believe we can make a good result in America.
“Before we arrive at Laguna, I will travel with Paul to visit our friends at Troy Lee Designs – I think they have a big surprise waiting for me, I know they are working on a special paint design for my Shoei helmet! Then we go to Suzuki America to visit the staff and meet the riders from the American road-racing and motocross teams. It should be a fun week!”
