The final round in this trio of back-to-back races takes the championship back to Switzerland, although for many it will be their first Grand Prix in the country, and certainly for all it’s the first time at the Frauenfeld track.
A new venue, it’s a man-made track constructed on flat ground and flanked by grandstands, so should be good for spectators.
It’s the last in the season’s penultimate triple back-to-back-to-back, before the 2016 season reaches its crescendo with a final flurry of three races – at two permanent motorsport venues in the Assen GP circuit followed by the Charlotte Motor Speedway and finally the iconic Glen Helen.
The Honda Gariboldi Racing team will be back up to a two-man team too, with the addition of Team HRC’s JMX rider Chihiro Notsuka, who will make a one-race appearance aboard the works CRF250RW to complement his programme in Japan.
The factory JMX IA2 rider has had a stellar year so far, building upon his second position in last year’s championship to take seven moto wins and four moto podiums in the first six rounds of the season. The decision to ride in Switzerland came to support his programme of racing and training in Japan and gives him the opportunity to measure himself against the best in the world.
Tim Gajser, no.243:
“Switzerland is a new country for racing in GPs for me, and it’s close to my home country so I’m looking forward to it. It’s on the flat without any hills so it’s going to be like it is when we get there. I don’t know much more about it, but actually it doesn’t really matter so much. When we arrive on Friday I will walk around and check the track and the lines with my Dad, and then remember it for the Saturday when we go wide open on it. It doesn’t matter where you race – you have to be prepared. We are working all year to make sure that when we get to a race, we’re ready to ride in all conditions and surfaces no matter what. Now the season is coming to an end you have to be smart. If you go out just collecting points something can go wrong or strange, so there’s no need to change our approach at all. We go to win. And I’m feeling relaxed and good and ready to go!”
Chihiro Notsuka, no.281:
“We were looking at opportunities to ride outside of Japan, and in MXGP we get the maximum amount of track time with free practice for 20 minutes on Saturday, timed practice 20 minutes, qualifying race for 20 minutes plus two laps, warm-up 15 minutes on Sunday, and two races of 30 minutes plus 2 laps, so I have the most time on the bike to learn the track and progress throughout the weekend.
“We also had the availability to compete in Lommel but it’s such a hard track we decided to wait until Switzerland, because the track is also new to everyone to the other riders will have little advantage. Our goal is for top 15, but mostly to make the most of this opportunity to learn at the World Championship level. I am very grateful to Team HRC and Honda Gariboldi for this chance.”
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal:
“The track we think will be like Mantova in terms of layout with many jumps and a little bit tight, quite like supercross style. It won’t be a typical Swiss track in a field on a hill – instead it’s build on flat ground, but apart from that we don’t know much so we must wait and see on Friday. Of course the championship is getting towards the end now, but we remain focused in the same way as always, looking to do as well as we possibly can rather than focusing on needing this or that many points. We will also have two riders this weekend – Chihiro Notsuka will join us from Japan riding the CRF250RW, so we look forward to welcoming him!”