Rabat Earns FIM Moto2 Pole Position At Catalunya

Rabat Earns FIM Moto2 Pole Position At Catalunya

© 2014, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIM Moto2 World Championship

Catalunya Circuit, Spain

June 14, 2014

Qualifying Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):

1. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 1:46.569

2. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 1:47.140

3. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 1:47.192

4. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 1:47.267

5. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 1:47.444

6. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 1:47.526

7. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:47.594

8. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:47.595

9. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 1:47.600

10. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:47.604

11. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 1:47.665

12. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 1:47.788

13. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (SUTER), 1:47.834

14. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:47.855

15. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 1:47.907

16. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 1:47.926

17. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 1:47.932

18. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 1:47.932

19. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:47.936

20. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 1:48.026

21. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 1:48.068

22. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 1:48.112

23. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 1:48.225

24. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 1:48.230

25. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 1:48.296

26. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 1:48.392

27. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 1:48.587

28. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 1:48.639

29. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:48.737

30. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:49.247

31. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 1:49.261

32. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 1:49.487

33. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:49.771

34. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 1:50.234

More, from a press release issued by AirAsia Caterham Moto2 Team:

Barcelona Grand Prix Moto2 Qualifying

Circuit: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Circuit Length: 4.727 m

Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco

FP3: P4; 1’47.455 – 19 laps

Qualifying: P8; 1’47.595 – 18 laps

Bike # 2 – Josh Herrin

FP3: P28; 1’48.887 – 18 laps

Qualifying: P29; 1’48.737 – 20 laps

Weather

FP3: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 31°, (track temp) 44°

Qualifying: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 29°, (track temp) 48°

AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing rider Johann Zarco will start tomorrows Moto2 race in eighth place. After some initial set-up changes to the #5 Caterham Suter he quickly improved his time from day one, launching himself into the top four throughout FP3.

Despite being unable to better his time from the morning session the Frenchman pushed hard to qualify on the third row.

Struggling to get into a rhythm Moto2 rookie Josh Herrin was unable to achieve his target position in Qualifying but determined to progress, the American battled on to improve his time with a 1’48.737.

#5 Johann Zarco:

“Eighth position is not bad because when we started on Friday it was so difficult to be fast but we made a big improvement this morning with the set-up. My feeling was quite good and I was able to improve my lap time. I had hoped to continue this in the afternoon but it was not possible. The feeling on the bike was not exactly the same as in FP3, so I was pushing more and when I did this the times were not coming. I fought a lot to do my qualifying time.

“At this moment I am disappointed so I need to look ahead and refocus for tomorrow. Overall it is not very bad. The first rider is very quick but to second place it’s quite close, so if I have the same pace as Saturday morning, even a little bit quicker, we can have a good race.”

#2 Josh Herrin:

“Today didn’t go as planned but I’m happy that I improved my time and we also learned a couple of things.

“I’m disappointed with my position so I need to calm down now and concentrate on tomorrow. It’s going to be another difficult race so the main target is to finish. I will push to do my best.”

Team Manager – Johan Stigefelt:

“We had quite a difficult day on Friday which followed with a lot of meetings and trying to fix the issues that we had.

“With Johann we managed to improve the set-up this morning and they did a very good job. The bike worked well and Johann felt comfortable with it. The times that he was doing were very consistent throughout the session which I was very happy with. For the qualifying we were quite optimistic to make a step further in that direction but unfortunately it didn’t really come. There was something with the bike that didn’t feel similar to the morning practice. We have to see what that is and try to make it better for tomorrow’s race, which I’m confident we can be in the fight for P2.

“For Josh we have been working with a different system this weekend. It has been working quite ok but in the end he was not able to improve his position. Tomorrow we have a bit more to work on so we will see in Warm Up. I’m confident that if he can relax and get into a rhythm on the bike he will have a good race.”

More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:

AGT REA Racing have a difficult qualifying

Gino Rea Moto2 2014

AGT REA Racing have a difficult qualifying at the Catalunya Grand Prix

The AGT REA Racing team were unable to improve on yesterday’s position in Moto2 qualifying, making up 28th on the grid for Sunday’s race. Although two seconds from pole position, Gino Rea was only 1 second off the fastest Suter machine in 7th. Despite making considerable changes to the bike throughout Saturday’s sessions, significant improvements for Gino were not felt.

Gino Rea: “Today has been a bit experimental. We made a lot of changes throughout the sessions to try and improve my feeling on the bike and the areas where we are losing time. We managed to get the bike a bit better but ran out of time and I didn’t get a perfect lap together so I’m disappointed with the final position. Hopefully we can use the warm up time to improve the bike so I can try to battle through the field like in Mugello tomorrow.”

Rookie Moto2 team AGT REA Racing will line up for their 7th grand prix appearance tomorrow at the GP Monster Energy de Catalunya. For live updates, ‘Like’ AGT REA Racing on Facebook www.facebook.com/agtrearacing or follow the team on Twitter www.facebook.com/agtrearacing

More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:

Qualifying one-two for Marc VDS in Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain – 14 June 2014: Tito Rabat will start his home race from the front of the grid tomorrow, after claiming his fifth pole position of the season with a dominant qualifying performance in Barcelona this afternoon. Mika Kallio made it a one-two for the Marc VDS Racing Team by qualifying second for tomorrow’s 23-lap Moto2 race.

Rabat has topped the timesheet in every session this weekend, always with a margin of half-a-second or more over his closest rival. The 25-year-old Spaniard continued this form in qualifying, taking pole position by 0.571s from his Marc VDS teammate, Mika Kallio.

Yesterday Kallio struggled when the temperature rose and grip become an issue due to the deteriorating track conditions, but the 31-year-old Finn bounced back to claim second place on the grid this afternoon, after working with his crew to find a more competitive set up on his Kalex Moto2 machine.

Livio Loi will start tomorrow’s 22-lap Moto3 race from 23rd position on the grid, after a disappointing qualifying session in Barcelona this afternoon. The 17-year-old Belgian struggled to get the bike stopped on corner entry, a problem he hadn’t experienced in the three free practice sessions, but it was the fast final sector that robbed him of the most time.

Tito Rabat // Pole Position // 1’46.569

“I’m happy because we’ve had a good weekend so far but, as I said before, the race is tomorrow and the race is the only thing that counts. Of course I want to win at home, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s good to start from pole, but Kallio and Viñales are both strong and they will be there tomorrow, that’s for sure. Tonight we want to try and makes some more small improvements to the bike and then tomorrow we’ll go out and try to win, like always.”

Mika Kallio // 2nd // 1’47.140

“With the qualifying position today we can be satisfied, but we are still a little bit too far from Tito. We’re getting a little closer, step-by-step, but he’s still half-a-second in front. When the temperature rises and the grip becomes difficult to find, it seems to affect me more than others. The lap time today felt like it was done right on the limit, with the bike sliding, sliding everywhere. In the past races I’ve been strong at the start, whereas Tito has not been so quick over the first few laps, so if I can break his rhythm then we will see what we can do. For me, I’d prefer it to be a little bit cooler tomorrow, as this would make things a little easier for me.”

Livio Loi // 23rd // 1’52.614

“Qualifying was not a good session for me. We made some changes to the bike to try and improve how the front tracks through the turns, but then I was struggling to get the bike stopped for the corners. There was little improvement in the final sector, which is where I am losing most of my time. The bike just won’t hold the line through the last two turns; I’m running wide every time, which means I’m late on the gas for the start finish straight. We need to find something in warm up tomorrow if I am going to retain my position in the championship.”

Michal Bartholemy // Team Principal

“Tito has dominated all weekend, so the pole position wasn’t such a big surprise. He wants to win in front of his home crowd and, given his domination of proceedings this weekend, it would be a brave man who bet against him doing just that. Mika struggled with the conditions yesterday but, together with his crew, he worked to find a solution and, as his qualifying performance shows, they were successful. Could we see another double Marc VDS podium tomorrow? We’ll have to see, but I wouldn’t bet against that either. As for Livio, what can I say? I’m disappointed because his performance fell well short of our expectations. This is a key race for Livio; he was set his targets at the beginning of the season and now he needs to meet them. To do that, he needs to finish in the points tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:

Anthony West keeps working on new chassis set-up – disappointing qualifying for Roman Ramos

QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West qualified in 27th position for the Grand Prix of Catalunya and has a lot of work left to do with the set-up and riding style for the new chassis of his Speed-Up prototype. After introducing the new frame in the free practice session on Saturday morning, the 32-year-old Australian felt an immediate improvement on the front end of his bike and found cornering easier than before, but work will continue to find the best solutions for traction and grip on the rear.

Team-mate Roman Ramos had a difficult and disappointing day altogether. After going the wrong way with the set-up of his bike in qualifying, the 23-year-old Spaniard dropped back to 32nd on the grid. Ramos will try different settings in the warm-up session on Sunday morning again, hoping to find a last-minute solution to his problems and to be well prepared for his home Grand Prix.

Anthony West – 27th in 1.48,587

“We changed to our new frame from yesterday to today and this morning I felt better with the front. In mid-corner, the front feels really good now. But as far as rear grip goes, we still have to work through different set-up options and I will also have to adapt my riding style to the new frame. I struggled to find enough rear grip in the morning, so we made a change to the afternoon which made things even worse. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to change it back again and I got stuck with my lap time. Apart from the set-up, I am also trying to find the best riding style: This morning, my mechanics said that I was too aggressive on the brakes, so I tried to ride smoothly and brake early this afternoon, but the lap times were the same. I hope I can improve in the race tomorrow!”

Roman Ramos – 32nd in 1.49,487

“It was a difficult day. I tried everything but I just couldn’t get a good lap time and I was suffering a lot. In qualifying, I couldn’t improve my lap time because the bike behaved worse than in the free practice sessions. Now I have to start from way back on the grid. We will of course try to find some improvements in the warm-up session on Sunday morning in order to move up a little on the time sheets. This would be good for my confidence and would boost my motivation for the race!”

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