Press Release | October 2, 2018
Marquez, Pedrosa look forward to racing at Buriram International Circuit for the first time
This is a press release from HRC…
In five days the world will know the first-ever MotoGP winner of the Grand Prix of Thailand, a country where the World Championship is hugely popular and the race, to be hosted at the Buriram International Circuit, is eagerly awaited.
Looking back at the three-day test hosted last 16-18 February at the 4.6 km Hermann Tilke-designed track, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez completed totals of 224 and 271 laps, setting the first- and third-fastest times, respectively, in the combined standings (1’29.781” on day 3 for Pedrosa, 1’29.969” on day 2 for Marquez). Faithful to his typical working method, Marc also completed a very impressive race simulation in the afternoon heat of the test’s final day, including a long string of high-1’30” laps.
Although weather and track conditions will have to be addressed all over again via tire choice and bike setup beginning Friday morning, the Repsol Honda riders will try and put to good use the work completed, in order to be among the first three riders to step onto the Thai MotoGP podium.
Marc Marquez
“It will be exciting to race in Thailand for the first time; for sure there will be many fans in the grandstands, which is always a nice feeling. We must remain focused and calm though, as it will be important to manage the weekend well, working in the way that we’re used to doing. We had a good test in February but we’ll need to recheck every detail starting on Friday morning. Some parts of the circuit are tricky, but the layout in general is nice. Surely the high humidity and temperature are going to be demanding on the body, but when you get on the bike you just forget those things and simply focus on riding.”
Dani Pedrosa
“It will be the first time we race in Buriram, so we don’t know exactly what to expect from the weekend. Of course we have the references from the test we did in February, which went well, so we hope the feeling will be similar. The heat will be high and that will severely put to the test the bike, tyres and ourselves, but it’s something we have dealt with many times already in Malaysia.”
Location: Buriram International Circuit
Designed by German architect Herman Tilke, the Buriram International Circuit opened in 2014 and will see MotoGP™ making its debut this season. Located around 410km northeast from the country’s capital of Bangkok, the town of Buriram in the Buriram province literally translates into “city of happiness”, and its typically hot and humid weather is a key feature of its Southeast Asian location. The 4.554km layout incorporates 12 turns and has seen the Superbike World Championship racing at the venue since 2015. Its state-of-the-art facilities, include a total capacity for 100,000 people with various grandstands around the circuit providing incredible viewing opportunities for spectators. (Source: MotoGP.com)
