Folger hopes to maintain podium form at Motegi as Amato continues World Championship adventure

Almost five kilometres of twisting tarmac in the middle of a dense Japanese forest awaits the Moto3 youngsters this weekend as their three-week intercontinental adventure gets underway at Motegi. Located in the rural isolation of the Tochigi prefecture the circuit host the first of three World Championship races in as many weekends, with the series set to move swiftly on to Malaysia and Australia over the following fortnight. This is the time when the riders' intense physical training programmes really pay off and the exhausting run of races often tends to decide championships. Indeed in Moto3 Sandro Cortese, with a 51-point advantage over closest rival Luis Salom, gets his first mathematical opportunity to wrap up the title this Sunday.

MAPFRE Aspar Team rider Jonas Folger has his own championship hopes pinned on next season after signing a deal to remain with the Spanish outfit following an incredible start to their time together. With three podiums and a worst result of sixth place in just four outings as a MAPFRE Aspar Team man the German, third last time out at Aragón, heads to the Far East feeling full of confidence and eager to maintain his momentum until the end of the current campaign. His young compatriot and new team-mate Luca Amato has his own targets this weekend, the 16-year-old taking on the toughest period of the World Championship season just two weeks after making his debut at this level at Aragón.

Jonas Folger: “I really like the three races ahead of us now. Motegi is a spectacular track, very technical and with a lot of hard braking. Sepang is also one of my favourites so I hope we can keep up this run of excellent results. It is a tough period because you have three races very close together a long way from home but I know I have trained hard this year so I am mentally and physically prepared. In just four races with the MAPFRE Aspar Team we have scored some great results and the important thing is that we continue to grow. The objective this weekend will be to keep on making progress and hopefully pick up another podium.”

Luca Amato: “I am really excited to be competing in Asia. Everything is new to me but I am really looking forward to getting to Motegi and learning more about this category alongside the MAPFRE Aspar Team. Hopefully in Japan the weather is kinder to us than it was in Aragón because it was a really mixed weekend there. The important thing will be to continue to adapt and to work hard to find the feeling with the bike that we were missing at Aragón. To be honest I have only ever seen Motegi on the games console and on the television. It seems to have a lot of hard braking zones and it looks like a tricky but fun circuit.”

Mapfre Aspar Moto3 Press Release

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Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/5GQo2bWAVNp/Folger+hopes+maintain+podium+form+Motegi+Amato

Hector Barberá Fabio Barchitta Alan Barnett Lorenzo Baroni Jose Barresi