The most exciting thing about the pre-event press conference today in Germany was Aleix Espargaro’s team jacket. Suzuki are celebrating 30 years of the GSX-R with a superb retro livery for their bikes and team. Trust me, it’s good and will bring a tear to the eye of gentlemen of a certain age.
Despite the presence of Rossi and Marquez in the presser, we didn’t learn much more about the events of the last corner at Assen. Marc is far too clever to allow himself to be caught out by some smart-alec question and confined himself to saying that he still thinks he has a chance of the championship. He did admit that he’d viewed footage of the event only once—mainly because he had to watch it so often on the day. Valentino said he’d watched it a few more times than that. He also reminded us at length that the front tyre is vital here and that the fact Bridgestone have brought out the asymmetric front for the first time this year shows just how important the front is in Germany.
Marquez’s record here is impeccable—five wins in the last five years, so first we need to see if his hybrid 2014/15 bike behaves as he hopes it will at the vital corners—Turn 1 and the two lefts that end the lap, the places where nearly all the overtaking is done. If it does, the rest have a fight on their hands. It’d be nice if the Suzukis are in that fight.
