From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI ‘CONFIDENCE BOOST’ FOR LE MANS!

Team Suzuki Press Office – May 10, 2004.

Team Suzuki MotoGP lines up for the French GP at Le Mans with yet another boost to their confidence, after successful tests following the double-points finish at the last race in Spain.

Former World Champion Kenny Roberts finished eighth in that race, run in streaming rain at the Jerez circuit, with team-mate John Hopkins 15th. The next day, in dry conditions, the pair got a first taste of what will be coming for the GSV-R later in the season.

With Suzuki’s new test team and rider Gregorio Lavilla taking on the task of tyre development tests with Bridgestone at Mugello in Italy, the focus for the Grand Prix squad was on assessing a new engine modification that is in the early stages of development.

Results were very promising even though this engine improvement is not yet in race-ready trim.

“It’s a completely different step in the right direction,” said a positive Roberts after the test. “Even though this early version is not up to power, it allows the rider to do many more things with the bike and without needing such perfect settings. The bike was easier to ride and I hope that Suzuki can get it race ready as soon as possible,” he said.

Hopkins added: “I’m seriously looking forward to racing the modified motor as soon as the factory makes it ready.”

The clear progress was further proof that the already gratifying rate of improvement to the machine is set to continue. The goal of regaining race and title-winning positions is even more clearly in sight.

“We started the season feeling optimistic but fully aware that we still have a lot of work to do. The tests after Jerez showed that the factory is not only continuing to work hard, but taking the bike forward step by step,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“At the same time, we’re working closely with Bridgestone, with our test team helping them move tyre development forward. They’re also getting better all the time,” he continued.

“After the rain at the Spanish race, we’ll be hoping for dry hot weather at Le Mans – the conditions that seem to suit the tyres best at the moment,” concluded Taylor.

The third round of the eagerly-anticipated 2004 MotoGP championship takes the contenders to the famous 24-hour-race venue at Le Mans in the west of France. The motorcycles use only a small section of the car endurance-racing classic track, past the pits and grandstands, before looping back for the first of a series of U-turns on the Bugatti short circuit.

The weather is always a talking point. For the past two years, the big race has been interrupted by rain. Last year’s French GP was the first time new “Race Neutralisation” rules had been used, whereby the first part of a stopped race counts only for grid positions for the restart. Overall results are established by a tooth-and-nail sprint over the remaining laps.

Last year, the restarted race was won by Sete Gibernau as the Suzuki teamsters had a misfortunate weekend – Hopkins injuring his shoulder in the last of a series of wet-track spills and Roberts making a tyre gamble that failed in the changing conditions.

This year, both riders have higher hopes after an encouraging start to the season for the revised and improved Suzuki GSV-R, including a strong top ten for Roberts in the second round. Although still working towards full competitive form, the Suzuki squad are already looking towards more of same in France.

KENNY ROBERTS – ONE OF OUR BETTER RACES:
“We tested the engine modifications at Jerez; it’s a completely different step, in the right direction. All our current problem areas were gone. Even with the engine still not fully set up, the bike is easier to ride and the chassis settings don’t have to be as perfect. We need that modification as soon as Japan can make it ready. It’s kind of hard to go to Le Mans with the previous engine, knowing we’d be in a better position with what’s in the pipeline. We’re faster this year than last, but everyone else is faster too. One good thing is that nobody has tested at Le Mans. When that’s happened this year, at tests for instance, we’ve gone well. Where other people have had more set-up time, which hurts us. We get maxed out on settings before they do. So it should be one of our better races.”

JOHN HOPKINS – HOPING FOR A DRY WEEKEND:
“Testing went real good. We had a chance to try the modifications to the motor and they made a big step. I’m really excited about that. The factory has a couple of little things to settle before it’s race ready and I’m looking forward to that. Le Mans isn’t exactly my favourite track after getting hurt in the wet there last year. I don’t mind the layout of the circuit in the dry – it’s a fun track. But I don’t think many riders like it in the rain … the surface is one of the slickest. If it does rain, it’s the same for everybody and I’m ready for it. We’ll do what we have to do, but I’m really hoping for a dry weekend.”

ABOUT THIS RACE:
The French GP is a long-standing but irregular fixture on the calendar. The first event was run in 1951, the third year of GP racing – but in the 53 years since, there have been just 40 events under that name. The GP has wandered around the country, moving from Albi to Rouen, Reims, Clermont Ferrand, Le Castellet, Nogaro and Magny-Cours over the years. The first time at Le Mans was in 1969 on an early version of the then-new Bugatti circuit which uses only the traditional pits and start-finish area of the famous 24-hour car track Since that time, the circuit has been changed considerably in detail – even since the last series ended in 1995 – while the French GP moved down south again to Le Castellet. The return to Le Mans in 2000, after the southern circuit was decommissioned, signalled a revival of crowd numbers at the venue.

ABOUT THIS TRACK:
The Bugatti circuit originally used part of the famous Sarthe 24-hour car circuit – the pit straight and a daunting right-hand corner under the Dunlop Bridge and down the hill – before looping off for the first of its U-turns and short “drag-strip” straights. The first change was to put a slow chicane before the bridge. In 2002, a second major alteration dealt with the exit from the bridge, carrying the track further to the left and making the first U-turn into a much faster and more sweeping corner. The short following straight reasserts the track’s character; hard acceleration followed by hard braking for the Museum U-turn, then another in the opposite direction before the short back straight and more slow corners leading back to the final hairpin. Le Mans is one of the four slowest circuits on the calendar.

GP DATA:

Bugatti Circuit – Le Mans.
Circuit Length: 2.597 miles / 4.180 km.
Lap Record: 1:36.846 – 96.549 mph / 155.380 km/h. V Rossi (Honda) 2002.
2003 Race Winner: S Gibernau (Honda).
2003 Race Average: 24:29.665 – 82.709 mph / 133.107 km/h (race shortened).
2003 Fastest Race Lap: 1:50.358 – 84.728 mph / 136.356 km/h (Gibernau).
2003 Pole Position: 1:35.208 (Rossi).
2003 Kenny Roberts: 16th, qualified 17th (Suzuki GSV-R).
2003 John Hopkins: Did Not Finish (crash), qualified 11th (Suzuki GSV-R).