FIM Moto2 World Championship
Twin Ring Motegi, Japan
October 11, 2014
Qualifying Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):
1. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 1:50.854
2. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:50.887
3. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:51.157
4. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 1:51.222
5. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 1:51.312
6. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 1:51.317
7. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 1:51.454
8. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 1:51.524
9. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 1:51.543
10. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 1:51.555
11. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 1:51.558
12. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 1:51.646
13. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 1:51.653
14. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 1:51.715
15. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 1:51.735
16. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:51.758
17. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:51.761
18. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 1:51.836
19. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 1:51.939
20. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 1:52.094
21. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 1:52.293
22. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:52.295
23. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 1:52.307
24. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (MORIWAKI), 1:52.377
25. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 1:52.453
26. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 1:52.567
27. Tomoyoshi KOYAMA, Japan (NTS), 1:52.646
28. Florian MARINO, France (KALEX), 1:52.684
29. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 1:52.802
30. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:52.996
31. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:53.120
32. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 1:53.151
33. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:53.401
34. Chalermpol POLAMAI, Thailand (TECH 3), 1:53.471
35. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (SUTER), 1:53.615
36. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 1:54.063
More, from a press release issued by AirAsia Caterham Moto2 Team:
Zarco continues good form with front row start at Motegi
Circuit: Twin Ring Motegi
Circuit Length: 4.801 km
Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco
FP3: P3; 1’51.216 – 19 laps
Qualifying: P3; 1’51.157 – 19 laps
Bike # 14 – Ratthapark Wilairot
FP3: P22; 1’52.415 – 18 laps
Qualifying: P22; 1’52.295 – 15 laps
Weather
FP3: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 22°, (track temp) 36°
Qualifying: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 23°, (track temp) 35°
Moto2 qualifying at Motegi saw AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing rider Johann Zarco qualify the #5 Caterham Suter on the front row for the second consecutive time.
Meanwhile teammate Ratthapark Wilairot continued to improve his pace around the Japanese track, achieving another personal best lap time and remaining in the top twenty for the majority of the session.
#5 Johann Zarco: “It is a good feeling to qualify on the front row again. We’ve been up at the top since Friday so I am happy with this.
“Qualifying was not so easy because I wanted to go under the 1m51s lap time, which I didn’t do, but still I am on the first row and this is the very important for the race. To start from third position always helps for the first corner at the start of the race. Now I want to fight for victory and the third podium in a row.
“The consistency is quite good but I need to stay with these top riders Tito and Luthi and also be focused, but keep enough power for the end of the race because it is a race where everybody struggles a lot; we need to be clever and enjoy the race too.”
#14 Ratthapark Wilairot: “Free practice three was quite good with the bike. We made a small adjustment but not very much as I already felt comfortable.
The set-up is good, I just need to change a little bit more my riding style to stop the bike by braking more and shifting out of gear better. I tried this in the first exit at the beginning of qualifying and it worked well and I felt happier.
“Now I think we can fight for the points because all the riders are very close and fifteenth position is not far away.
“I want to say sorry to the team for my crash. I was waiting too long at the end of the session and with a cold tyre it’s not so clever; I won’t do this again. – Tomorrow I believe we can have a good race.”
Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager: “With Johann we had a very good qualifying again and we are proving now that we really can be up there every time. Even though Johann struggled a little bit in the beginning with a strange feeling in the front, the team worked well to resolve this and he came strong. The only thing I can see is that we are very competitive up until sector four where there is basically one corner where we loose a bit too much from the two riders in front of us. We will have to see tomorrow what we can do about this, but I think with the pace Johann has in the other three sectors, he can stay with the leaders tomorrow and battle for a podium position. Rabat is very strong so it will be hard, but I think it will be an interesting race tomorrow and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.
“For Ratthapark unfortunately he crashed towards the end of qualifying, but up until that point he was having a very good session. He did a very good lap time and was strong from the start, but then he had to wait a little bit in the end for a tow and that cooled down the tyres too much, which caused him to crash in the second last corner. He’s ok which is good and the bike is fine too. He has quite a good starting position, better than before, so I think from there with a strong start he can try to go with the guys around the top fifteen and fight for a point scoring finish; that is the target for tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:
Pole position for record breaker Rabat at Motegi
Motegi, Japan – 11 October 2014: An impressive performance from Tito Rabat saw the Moto2 World Championship leader claim pole position and a new outright lap record at Motegi this afternoon.
Yesterday Rabat closed to within 0.1s of the outright circuit record to end the day at the top of the timesheet, a position he also claimed during this morning’s final Moto2 free practice session. The 25-year-old Spaniard carried this momentum into qualifying, where he took pole position from Tom Lüthi with a final flying lap that was 0.032s inside the existing circuit record, set by Pol Espargaro in 2012.
It is Rabat’s eighth pole position in 2014, equalling the record for the most poles in one season, again set by Espargaro in 2012.
Mika Kallio will start tomorrow’s 23-lap Moto2 race from the second row of the grid, after qualifying in fifth position this afternoon. The 31-year-old Finn continued to struggle with a lack of feeling with the front end of his Kalex Moto2 machine, especially under braking and on corner entry. Kallio is determined to find a solution tonight, which he’ll test in warm up tomorrow morning.
Jorge Navarro continued to make significant improvements to his lap time in free practice and then qualifying this afternoon, as his knowledge of the technical Motegi circuit improved. The 18-year-old Spaniard will start tomorrow’s 20-lap Moto3 race from 16th on the grid, after qualifying just 1.188s outside Danny Kent’s pole position time.
Tito Rabat // Pole Position // 1’50.854
“I’m really happy with today’s pole position, as we did a good job together as a team and the bike was working well in qualifying. So everything is good, but I was losing a little time through the final sector, so this is something we need to look at for tomorrow. It will be a hard race, because it always is here at Motegi, especially at the start with a full fuel load. All we can do is try and find some further improvements for tomorrow and then prepare for a tough race.”
Mika Kallio // 5th // 1’51.312
“I’m not happy at all, even if the qualifying position is not so bad. I have struggled with the front end of the bike all weekend and nothing we have tried has brought a significant improvement. We’ve changed everything, working through every option we’ve used this year, but it hasn’t worked. I can feel the difference but while some of the changes brought an improvement in one area, they also caused problems in another. It’s difficult, because I can do the lap time, but I feel like I’m on the limit and likely to crash in almost every corner. We need to find a solution, because it’s not possible to maintain a good pace over full race distance like this. Hopefully we can come up with something for warm up, or tomorrow’s race will be a tough one.”
Jorge Navarro // 16th // 1’57.743
“I’m happy with qualifying today, as we’ve made good progress all weekend. Yesterday the feeling with the bike wasn’t so good, but today was a new day and we saw an improvement with every lap. Tomorrow I need to improve in some areas of the track, as that’s where I’m losing most of my time, so we have to keep working, but I’m happy enough with what we’ve achieved so far this weekend.”
More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:
No luck in qualifying for West and Ramos
QMMF Racing Team riders Anthony West and Roman Ramos had high hopes for the crucial qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Japan, but lost more ground to their rivals instead of gaining positions on the starting grid.
West had a bad start of the day when he suffered his second crash of the weekend in Saturday morning’s third free practice session, with the chattering problems that caused his first tumble on Friday afternoon being the cause of the incident once again. For the afternoon, his technical crew had not only fixed the bike itself but the set-up as well and West was ready to fight. But on his decisive run with new tyres, he was unlucky with the timing of his attack and with traffic on the track.
Team-mate Ramos, a newcomer to the challenging Twin Ring Motegi, struggled with set-up problems and his own riding all day long and ran out of time just when his technicians had found the right direction with the settings for his Speed Up prototype. With his never-give-up attitude, Ramos now hopes to improve in the warm-up session on Sunday morning and to put up a good show in the race.
Anthony West – 29th in 1.52,802
“The chattering problem that we had yesterday appeared again in the third free practice session this morning and for this reason, I had another crash. My mechanics did a great job fixing the bike in time and also in making some positive changes to the set-up for qualifying this afternoon. The chattering was all but gone, there were no dramas with the bike, but I just couldn’t string a fast lap together. On my last run with a set of new tyres, there was a lot of traffic. I didn’t find a clear track ahead of me and I didn’t get the slipstream of another strong rider either, so unfortunately, I will have to start from way back on the grid. But I am still confident for the race!”
Roman Ramos – 36th in 1.54,063
“It was a difficult day. I was determined to improve in comparison to yesterday, but it wasn’t possible. I didn’t feel good with the bike and at the moment, I am not at my best myself. Tomorrow, we will make a big change to the set-up. My crew worked very well and started to make initial steps in the right direction this afternoon, so I’m confident that we can improve in the warm-up session and that we can prepare ourselves a bit better for the race. I like the Motegi track, but I don’t like that we are so far back on the grid!”
More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:
Ideal time puts Gino Rea 19th in Moto2 Qualifying
Gino Rea qualified 23rd in Saturday’s Moto2 Qualifying at Motegi however his ideal time placed him in 19th position and only one second from pole position. The gap to the Top 10 riders was even closer, with Rea only 0.4 seconds off. All in all it was a positive day for the AGT REA Racing team despite electrical problems.
Gino Rea:
“I’m happy with my pace today considering some niggling bike issues we’ve encountered. We had an electrical problem and it made the bike a bit inconsistent during the braking areas. Although 23rd isn’t where I want to be, my ideal time puts me 19th, only one second from pole and the gap to the Top 10 is close, just 0.4 seconds. I think when we fix the problem areas we can be competitive in the race tomorrow. I need a good start and I need to get up to pace early in the race”.
AGT REA Racing will line up for the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday at 12.20pm local time.