Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi will be starting his 20th season of Grand Prix racing afresh this weekend in Motegi, putting an early crash in Qatar behind him as he chases his first points of the year. The return to the land of the rising sun is a favourable move for the Italian veteran, who enjoyed three consecutive wins at the track from 2005-2008.
"After what happened in Qatar, we now go to a track that I know well and have had lots of good times at. I was very disappointed at Losail but that race has gone now and we have had time to see what happened," says a determined Capirossi, whose team have strong links with Japan.
"I hope I can have a very good result in Japan for the Suzuki guys that have put in all the hard work in the winter to give us a bike that we can now be competitive on. I have won here before and want to do it again, so I will be making sure we get everything right for race-day to give us the best possible chance of achieving that!"
If Capirossi can place on the podium on Sunday he will have rostrum finishes to show for each of the past seventeen seasons.
