Rabat, Kallio Set The Pace During FIM Moto2 Practices At Brno

Rabat, Kallio Set The Pace During FIM Moto2 Practices At Brno

© 2014, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIM Moto2 World Championship

Brno, Czech Republic

August 15, 2014

Free Practice One Results (dry conditions, all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):

1. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.126

2. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 2:03.298

3. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:03.311

4. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.414

5. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 2:03.505

6. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:03.529

7. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 2:03.556

8. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:03.601

9. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 2:03.633

10. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.675

11. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 2:03.781

12. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 2:03.870

13. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 2:03.901

14. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 2:03.921

15. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 2:03.928

16. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 2:04.273

17. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 2:04.348

18. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 2:04.389

19. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 2:04.471

20. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 2:04.489

21. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 2:04.540

22. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:04.675

23. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 2:04.858

24. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 2:04.865

25. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:05.137

26. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 2:05.163

27. Lucas MAHIAS, France (TRANSFIORMERS), 2:05.800

28. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:05.880

29. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (SUTER), 2:05.922

30. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 2:06.565

31. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 2:06.566

32. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:07.021

33. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 2:07.062

34. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:07.518

35. Miroslav POPOV, Czech Republic (SUTER), 2:08.155

36. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), no time recorded

Free Practice Two Results (dry conditions, all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):

1. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 2:03.268

2. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:03.355

3. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.494

4. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 2:03.509

5. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 2:03.527

6. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:03.595

7. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:03.640

8. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 2:03.739

9. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 2:03.783

10. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.783

11. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 2:04.013

12. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 2:04.014

13. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 2:04.063

14. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 2:04.103

15. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 2:04.223

16. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 2:04.336

17. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 2:04.389

18. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 2:04.570

19. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 2:04.583

20. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:04.616

21. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:04.661

22. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 2:04.727

23. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 2:04.790

24. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 2:04.866

25. Lucas MAHIAS, France (TRANSFIORMERS), 2:05.173

26. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 2:05.198

27. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 2:05.206

28. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 2:05.568

29. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (SUTER), 2:05.787

30. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:06.053

31. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 2:06.122

32. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:06.129

33. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:06.526

34. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 2:06.625

35. Miroslav POPOV, Czech Republic (SUTER), 2:08.823

36. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 2:09.100

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

Rabat and Kallio lead the way at Brno

Brno, Czech Republic – 15 August 2014: Tito Rabat ended the opening day at Brno at the top of the timesheet, with his Marc VDS teammate Mika Kallio second by just one tenth.

It was Rabat who made the most of almost perfect conditions to set the fastest time during the first 45-minute session, with Kallio dropping down to fifth having decided to run the harder option tyres this morning.

Rain ahead of this afternoon’s second free practice session left the track damp but drying, with Kallio waiting until the last 15 minutes before heading out to claim the top spot on the timesheet as conditions improved. The 31-year-old Finn was one of the few riders to improve his lap time this afternoon, but he was unable to better Rabat’s time from this morning.

For Jorge Navarro the opening day at Brno was spent learning his way around the 5.4km circuit. The 18-year-old Spaniard proved a fast learner, improving his lap time in the second free practice session by over a second to finish as the highest placed Kalex-KTM rider in 19th position and just 1.863s off the fastest time, set by Alex Marquez.

Tito Rabat // 1st // 2’03.126

“I’m happy with the job we’ve done today. I was fastest in the first practice session this morning, despite some issues with the bike We needed to test some different settings on the bike in the second session, which didn’t give me the same feeling, but I was still only two-tenths from Mika, so it wasn’t so bad. Tomorrow we will go more in the same direction with the settings as this morning, as well as looking for further improvements. Everyone seems to have had problems today with the revised shift system in the new engines, but it looks like we have this sorted now and I’m feeling positive about tomorrow.”

Mika Kallio // 2nd // 2’03.268

“It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get a full dry session this afternoon, as it meant we couldn’t test everything on our plan. We could see at the start this afternoon that the lap times were a long way off the pace of this morning, so I waited until conditions improved a little before going out, but even with the sun and wind, turns five and six stayed fully wet almost to the end of the session. We went with the softer option tyres front and rear this afternoon and, like always, my feeling with the bike, especially the front, was much better than with the harder tyres. Overall it’s been a positive day, but we still have some work to do tomorrow as a result of the mixed conditions this afternoon.”

Jorge Navarro // 19th // 2’09.842

“Brno is another new track for me, but at least this weekend it is the only new thing, as I now have some experience of the Kalex-KTM and the team after Indianapolis. This morning I did many laps on used tyres just so I could learn and get confidence on the new track. This afternoon we improved by one second and my feeling was good, but we need to make some changes to the bike to improve further, as I believe we can be higher up the order tomorrow.”

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

Positive Start for Zarco at Brno

Circuit: Automotodrom Brno

Circuit Length: 5.403 m

Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco

FP1: P6; 2’03.529 – 17 laps

FP2: P7; 2’03.640 –16 laps

Bike # 2 – Josh Herrin

FP1: P32; 2’07.021 – 18 laps

FP2: P33; 2’06.526 – 15 laps

Weather

FP1: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 19°, (track temp) 27°

FP2: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 19°, (track temp) 29°

Day one in Brno saw AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing rider Johann Zarco start his Czech Grand Prix weekend in good form.

Concluding Free Practice One in sixth place, the Frenchman was not deterred by the difficult track conditions in the afternoon’s Free Practice Two. Following heavy rainfall the drying Czech circuit made tyre choice a tricky decision across the Moto2 field.

Persisting on slicks, Johann Zarco continued to push taking chunks out of his time lap by lap and placing him within the top five for the majority of the session. Despite being unable to improve in position, he closed the gap to P1 finishing the session just 0.372s from the top of the leader board.

Meanwhile teammate Josh Herrin used the practice sessions to get to grips with the circuits technicalities and fast sweeping turns. Slowly making progress, the Moto2 rookie set his quickest time of the day on his penultimate lap.

#5 Johann Zarco: “Today has gone OK. We are not in the top group but the lap time is not so far off and the gap is quite little.

“This morning the time was almost the same as this afternoon because we had some wet conditions. The session started with various parts of the circuit wet and others dry. This then became dry quickly and in the end we were able to test something different from the morning.

I hope that the mechanics got enough information from this for tomorrow as my feeling on the bike is still not the good one to be very fast. If it’s dry tomorrow we will see if we can take direction for the Qualifying to improve the lap time and fight to be on the first row.

“The results today are not bad and I am calm enough so it’s a good day, but we must now push to be at the top.”

#2 Josh Herrin: “Today hasn’t really gone well. We’ve tried some new parts and I seem to have lost my confidence in braking. We made a small improvement for Free Practice Two and despite the damp conditions I improved my lap time from the first session.

“Given the direction of changes in FP2, we plan to make the bike tomorrow morning the same as I rode in Indy and hopefully if the weather is dry we can build on this before qualifying.

“I’ve looked at the data and understand the areas where I need to improve and along with the softer option tyres I hope to significantly better my time.”

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

West and Ramos chasing better set-up for Brno circuit

QMMF Racing Team riders Anthony West and Roman Ramos arrived in the Czech Republic in high spirits and with the determination to follow up on their strong race results in Indianapolis one week ago. But as it turned out, the fast and flowing 5.4-kilometre-circuit of Brno requires completely different set-up solutions than the Indy Speedway. Both West and Ramos struggled with their bikes on the first practice day for the Czech Grand Prix and the fact that the second free practice session in the afternoon started on a damp track didn’t help their search for a more suitable set-up. West ended the day in 21st and Ramos in 34th position, but both riders are confident to be able to turn their luck around after changes to suspension and geometry of their bikes on Saturday.

Anthony West – 21st in 2.04,540

“We didn’t have the best of days because the bike is really unbalanced. From the moment that I brake I’m fighting with the bike. The bike is not stable anywhere on the track and it’s vibrating and chattering a lot. As soon as I’m braking, the bike is sliding and coming out of control. It’s difficult just to get in the corner. The bike is constantly moving and trying to slide and to throw me around. We need to work on the settings to adapt the bike to the circuit that has become really bumpy. I’m sure we can improve tomorrow!”

Roman Ramos – 34th in 2.06,566

“It was quite a difficult day for us. We didn’t get a good feeling from the bike. We left Indianapolis happy about our rhythm in the race and we started here with the same settings, but the behavior of the bike was completely different. I don’t understand why a bike that was so good over there can feel so different now. We have to continue working in order to improve in the third free practice session and to be able to do a good qualifying. We arrived here in high spirits and I still hope we can carry this good momentum from Indianapolis through this weekend, climb a few positions and score another strong result!”

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