The MotoGP World Championship heads to Malaysia this weekend for the third and final stop on the famous 'flyaway' long haul tour that takes in three races in as many weekends. The Malaysian Grand Prix is the penultimate opportunity to see the riders on track in 2016, a season that has seen Marc Márquez regain the title as Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and now even Maverick Viñales fight it out for the runner-up spot. The Italian remains in the strongest position after his second place at Phillip Island last time out, which puts him on 216 points, 24 ahead of Lorenzo and 35 from Viñales – numbers that require Rossi simply to finish ahead of the pair to wrap up that coveted second spot in Sepang. There will be a new look to a circuit that the riders and teams are so familiar with this weekend, with remodelling having taken place in up to nine corners.
The Pull&Bear Aspar Team arrive in Malaysia feeling positive about their chances. Eugene Laverty could only manage fourteenth place at Phillip Island but his quest for a top ten championship position remains a possibility after Iannone, Barberá and Aleix Espargaró all missed out on the points in Australia. The Irishman is eleven points shy of his objective for the season and is confident of a strong showing in Malaysia, where the hard braking zones should suit the base set-up of his bike more than the flowing corners of Phillip Island. Laverty missed out on the points in both of his prior Grand Prix appearances at Sepang but he did take a podium in his last year on a Superbike. Yonny Hernández enjoyed a morale-boosting ride in Australia, where he was able to stay competitive to the end of the race. After working hard with his engineers to make the tyre last until the final lap, the Colombian is now looking forward to racing at a circuit where he scored his best result so far in MotoGP: seventh place in 2014.
Eugene Laverty: “I expect much better in Malaysia than we managed in Australia. The direction we have taken recently with this bike for my riding style is for hard braking and to push the front, so it will work well at Sepang. Phillip Island needed the opposite setting but we didn't get any dry track time so we were really in the wrong way, but this set-up already should work much better in Malaysia.”
Yonny Hernández: “We want to keep working hard with the bike in Malaysia to find a setting that works well in whatever conditions we find there, so that we can be in the fight for a good result. Sepang has been a good circuit for me in the past, I have had some of my best MotoGP results there, so I am looking forward to doing well again this weekend.”