John Hopkins to Race at Sepang MotoGP

John Hopkins will re-join the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team as a wild-card rider in Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday 23rd October.

Hopkins will make a welcome return to the Rizla Suzuki squad for his second wild-card event of the season. His first event was at Brno where he unfortunately crashed and injured his right hand in a practice session. He had shown huge potential during the first day and had finished in 10th place on the time-sheets, but his injury on day two stopped the Anglo-American from showing what he might have achieved after a full weekend on-board the Suzuki GSV-R. Hopkins has already completed a MotoGP race this season, after he deputised for Alvaro Bautista at Jerez and scored a creditable 10th place at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hopkins is currently leading the British Superbike championship onboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000 with the Samsung Crescent Racing team. The final event of the season will see him compete in a triple-header race weekend at Brands Hatch in England on October 8-9th, as he attempts to secure the Championship during his debut season.

John Hopkins

"I am really pumped to get this chance to ride in a MotoGP race with the Rizla Suzuki team. I thought after Brno that I wouldn't get the opportunity again and was really disappointed that I missed out there due to a silly mistake, so to be heading to Sepang is fantastic. It is one of my favourite tracks and I know it well because we used to test there a lot. My main focus is on the British Championship at the moment, but as soon as that is over I will be in MotoGP mode and putting all my efforts into getting a good result at Sepang and showing that I can perform at the highest level. I really want to get back into MotoGP and this is a great chance to show what I can do.

"Again I need to thank everyone at Rizla Suzuki for giving me this opportunity and my Samsung Crescent team - I hope that by the time I get back on the MotoGP bike we will have been celebrating something really big at Brands Hatch!"