FIM Moto2 World Championship
Silverstone Circuit, England
August 29, 2014
Free Practice Two Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):
1. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 2:08.652
2. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 2:08.739
3. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 2:08.826
4. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:08.937
5. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 2:09.025
6. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 2:09.027
7. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 2:09.088
8. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:09.110
9. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 2:09.193
10. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 2:09.360
11. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 2:09.449
12. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:09.528
13. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 2:09.556
14. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 2:09.605
15. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 2:09.623
16. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:09.680
17. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 2:09.682
18. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 2:09.698
19. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 2:09.706
20. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 2:09.716
21. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 2:09.902
22. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:10.098
23. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 2:10.241
24. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 2:10.271
25. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 2:10.478
26. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (SUTER), 2:10.752
27. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 2:10.784
28. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:11.170
29. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:11.173
30. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:11.223
31. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 2:11.814
32. Dakota MAMOLA, Belgium (SUTER), 2:12.767
33. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 2:13.313
34. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 2:16.440
35. Jeremy McWILLIAMS, UK (TAYLOR MADE), 2:16.806
More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:
Rabat tops the timesheet on opening day at Silverstone
Silverstone, Great Britain – 29th August 2014: Tito Rabat topped the timesheet on an opening day at Silverstone, where the notorious British weather once again played a big part. Mika Kallio ended the day sixth fastest, after a brief rain shower left him with limited time to evaluate set up changes.
Track conditions at Silverstone were less than ideal for this morning’s first free practice session, with low temperatures combined with a dirty track surface reducing grip levels and leaving riders struggling to get heat into the tyres.
The track conditions improved ahead of this afternoon’s second Moto2 free practice session, but a brief rain shower early in the session left riders with little dry time to work on set up.
Despite the problems Rabat and Kallio declared themselves relatively pleased with the progress made today, although both are hoping for better weather and track conditions tomorrow for both the final free practice and qualifying.
On his first visit to the Silverstone circuit, Jorge Navarro improved significantly in the second practice session, to finish today less than a second off provisional pole and 16th on the Moto3 timesheet. After a difficult session this morning, the 18-year-old Spaniard had a much better feeling with the bike and track this afternoon and is confident of further improvement tomorrow.
Tito Rabat // 1st // 2’08.652
“Today was a very strange day, as the track conditions weren’t ideal in either of the two free practice sessions. Still, I have a good feeling with the bike and we managed to test quite a lot despite the conditions – tyres, suspension and gearing – so we have some good data to work with ready for the final free practice and qualifying. We will see tomorrow, but we expect to improve and I hope the same is true of the weather!”
Mika Kallio // 6th // 2’09.027
“The track was cold and there was little grip available this morning, so it was complicated to find a good rhythm and there was little feedback from the tyres, both front and rear. It was like the tyres weren’t getting enough heat into them to work properly. We came up with a plan to address this in the afternoon, but then had to modify that plan when we had the brief rain shower during the session. We’re around 1.5 seconds of our times from last year, but the track conditions will continue to improve over the course of the weekend and the times will come down. However, we need to think ahead with the set up, to try and predict how much of an improvement we’re going to see, as we don’t have time to chase the track conditions in the two sessions we have left tomorrow.”
Jorge Navarro // 16th // 2’16.409
“This morning was quite difficult. The track was new to me and the conditions weren’t ideal, but we also tested some updated components on the bike that didn’t give the improvement we were expecting. For this afternoon’s session we went back closer to our Brno set up on the rear of the bike, but tested a new set of forks in the front. The feeling was much better and now we know in which direction we need to go to continue improving tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:
Silverstone GP: AGT REA Racing on the back foot after day one
Gino Rea crashed during Free Practice 1 on turn 15 at the Silverstone circuit, losing out on valuable track time at his Home GP. AGT REA Racing went into Free Practice 2 on the back foot, trying to make up for the time lost in session one. Although Gino finished the afternoon session in 25th, he was fast on many areas of the circuit however was losing a lot of time on a few corners.
Gino Rea:
“The first session most definitely did not go to plan at my home race. I crashed on my third lap whilst I was just getting into a rhythm. It was a weird crash, I lost the front going into turn 15 but it’s hard to know the exact reason why I went down. I just rolled off the gas to turn in and the front washed. It could have been the wind that caught me out as it was blowing quite strong. Unfortunately we lost the rest of that session which put us on the back foot, big time. Considering that, the lap time I did in FP2 wasn’t so bad but we still have a lot of work to do because I’m losing a lot of time in a few corners on the track. Taking today into account, a top 20 finish is a realistic goal this weekend.”
Despite today’s events on track, Gino Rea commented on a great Silverstone experience so far.
“As soon as I turned up yesterday, I was buzzing all day. The support from the home fans really puts a smile on my face. The Day of Champions was really good and I did the ice bucket challenge in front of the crowds!”
AGT REA Racing will be back in action tomorrow for Moto2 Free Practice 3 and the British GP qualifying session. Follow the team on their Facebook www.facebook.com/AGTREARACING and Twitter @AGT_REA_Racing for updates throughout the British GP weekend.
More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:
Anthony West re-adjusts to Moto2 racing after Endurance success – great start for Roman Ramos
After celebrating a podium finish at the Eight Hours of Oschersleben last weekend, where he battled to second place in the Superstock category with his Qatar Endurance Racing Team partners Alex Cudlin and Mashel Al-Naimi, Anthony West had to re-adjust his riding style from a 1000 cc Kawasaki to his 600 cc Moto2 prototype for the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. In the second free practice session, he was back in the swing and scored 16th place in the standings for day one, with more to come in qualifying on Saturday.
Spanish team-mate Roman Ramos had his best start into a Grand Prix weekend of the season so far. On the fast and challenging 5,9 kilometre-track, he found the best line and a good feeling with this Speed Up bike almost straight away and scored 28th place, with a gap of only 2.1 seconds to front-runner and championship leader Tito Rabat.
Anthony West – 16th in 2.09,623
“This morning was a bit difficult after riding with a 1000cc Kawasaki in the Eight Hour race. Coming back with the Speed Up bike felt so strange, everything was different and I didn’t feel comfortable, but in the second practice I started to feel good again. The conditions weren’t the best when we started after a brief rainshower, but then it dried up and everything was okay. I had a problem with the gearbox, when I would go from fourth to third it would shift back to fourth or into neutral by itself. I ran off the line three or four times because of that, so I hope we can get this fixed. Other than that, I just will try and go faster tomorrow!”
Roman Ramos – 28th in 2.10,784
“Today I felt really good. This circuit suits the bike and my riding style and we are closer to the top than we have ever been. It’s a long, wide and complicated track, but it didn’t take me long to find the best line and I went faster by almost two seconds from the first to the second session. I hope we can continue in this line tomorrow and climb up some more positions. We started well and I’m determined to keep the momentum going and to ride a good race on Sunday!”.