Pascal Leuret rides factory Suzuki RM-Z250WS at Mantova

Pascal Leuret made his competitive debut for Team Suzuki Swift at the weekend, as the Frenchman shook off the winter cobwebs on his factory Suzuki RM-Z250WS in the opening warm-up race of the new international season, at the Mantova Starcross event.

Eventually taking 10th overall on the day, the 26 year-old eased his way back into competitive action on Saturday with a ninth place in the qualification race. In the first moto on race day, Pascal was left to battle in the pack due to MX1 and MX2 classes racing together. Eventually 8th in class, Pascal made a much better start in race two and for many laps was holding down a top three placing until he fell foul of a lap transponder issue which left him with limited steering.

“Before the race the organisers said that there was a problem with my transponder”, commented Pascal. “So they fitted a new one. But this suddenly fell down and blocked my steering. I just couldn’t turn and had to stop to move it.”

Finishing seventh despite the interruption, Pascal again showed good speed in the early laps of race three before pulling off the track: “The track was very rough by the end of the day and after two days of hard riding the wrist which I broke last year was feeling it. Team Suzuki Swift has hired me to win World and British championship races, and I didn’t want to risk a crash in a warm-up, so I decided it was wiser to stop. I was happy with my weekend. I got faster every time I took to the track and I'm getting more and more used to my new bike. I am sure we will find success together.”