Source: Supplied.

Team Suzuki Ecstar has uncovered its 2017 MotoGP World Championship livery in an official presentation at Sepang, formally introducing Andrea Iannone and rookie Alex Rins to the brand.

The Japanese organisation, led by Davide Brivio as team manager, Satoru Terada as project leader and Ken Kawauchi as technical manager, will begin the third season in the top category of motorcycling.

After two seasons of creation, hard work and development, 2017 will be a crucial exercise in which Team Suzuki Ecstar seeks to become one of the best teams in the world championship after winning a race last season.

“The 2017 season will be important for us because it is already the third consecutive season since returning to MotoGP,” Brivio said. “We are no longer rookies so we must try to get closer to the other rivals. In addition, we have as a great incentive two new riders.

“I think Andrea Iannone is mature and is ready to achieve great goals if we are able to give him a good package with the bike. And in the other side of the garage Alex Rins, with whom we started a new adventure, a young driver with great talent and we will try to guide him to the top of MotoGP. This is why we are looking at an interesting season, but we know it will be difficult because all the teams have been very strong.

“It looks like 2017 will be a crucial year for everyone for different reasons, so we will face a very strong group of opponents. But we want to be with them, we want to try to be in the fight and get closer to the top, so we must try with Andrea at the first moment and, once he gains experience, I think Alex will be in a position to do so.”

Iannone debuted in the premier class in 2013 with the Ducati Pramac and from the beginning he showed his credentials with an extreme, aggressive and exuberant ride that served him well, respect of his rivals and this permitted him to be amongst the fastest riders in the world.

Four years later, and after winning his first race in the category last year in Austria, Team Suzuki Ecstar wants to be the launch pad for the Italian to aim for new targets and to be able to regularly fight with the top riders for podium positions.

On the other side of the box will be Rins, a 21-year-old Barcelona teenager who begins his adventure among the world’s elite. With a natural talent for riding and several times as a runner-up in the lower-class categories, Rins looks to 2017 as a year of learning in the premier class to get the experience to fight for higher goals in the coming years.