Aoyama targets more points at Brno
DRIVE M7 Aspar aiming to keep up consistent run that has seen him take points from nine of the ten races so far
The MotoGP World Championship heads from suburban Indianapolis to the forests of the Czech Republic this weekend as the Brno Circuit plays host to the eleventh round of the season. The MotoGP riders will need to make use of the energy they have saved up over the summer break to tackle a second Grand Prix in as many weekends on opposite sides of the Atlantic, especially if they want to halt the historic victory march of Marc Márquez – unbeaten in ten races and on course to double the points tally of his closest championship rival Dani Pedrosa.
Hiroshi Aoyama came through a difficult weekend at Indianapolis to score an outstanding top ten finish on Sunday, a result that provides a welcome boost to the DRIVE M7 Aspar rider at an important stage of the season. The Japanese rider is now fourteenth in the championship on 34 points and one of the most consistent points-scorers, having done so in nine of the ten races so far – a statistic he is aiming to add to this weekend. Leon Camier didn’t manage to score points on his MotoGP debut as a replacement for the injured Nicky Hayden but if he continues to progress in the way he did last weekend then a top fifteen finish is not out of reach at Brno. The British rider showed a rapid adaptation to the Honda and he is looking forward to building on it at a circuit he knows.
Hiroshi Aoyama: “The tenth place finish at Indianapolis gives us great motivation for the second half of the championship. It is really important that we came back strongly after the summer break but we still have a lot of work in front of us. We need to find some more mid-corner speed this weekend and some more confidence on the front. Hopefully at Brno we can get through practice without the setbacks we had last weekend. We will try to be strong from Friday and work from a good plan that will see us competitive right through the weekend.”
Leon Camier: “Even though I didn’t manage to finish my debut MotoGP race at Indianapolis I learnt a lot of things – mainly in terms of the direction we need to go with the chassis set-up and what I need to do to ride this bike fast. Hopefully at Brno we can continue working in the same way. I felt more comfortable with every passing lap of Sunday’s race and understood what I needed to do to improve my pace, so I think that will be an important step for us going into this weekend at a circuit I know well.”