GP of Aragon, preview The World Championship goes back to Spain for the thirteenth appointment of the season, on the latest track at the Motorland Aragon, just outside the municipality of Alcañiz. The circuit, designed by the German architect Hermann Tilke, is a mix of fast turns and up and downhill corners making a total length of 5433 metres. The JiR Team travels to the track after the test day held on Monday at the Valencia circuit, where technicians and rider could investigate in depth some aspects of tyre management, with different tyre compounds made available by Dunlop’s technicians. The GP of Aragon opens the final phase of the World Championship, with the rider Alex De Angelis still in the game for a place on the final Moto2 series podium, being just three points from the Italian Andrea Iannone in third. With strong competition in front and behind in the classification, both team and rider are now determined in obtaining the best results and to keep on developing the MotoBI. Alex DeAngelis We went to Valencia at the beginning of the week for a one-day test session. We did a lot 86 laps working side by side with Dunlop’s technicians to test tyres and compounds. Now it’s time to go to Aragon, a nice track where I believe we still can make a good performance. The third place in World Championship is still achievable then we stay focused on this target. Following this round we’ll move overseas for three hard rounds, therefore it will be important here to gather as many points as possible. Lately we showed to be competitive beside this in Aragon we will receive some evolutionary steps for some parts that should help my MotoBI to be even higher performing. We will try to exploit them in order to stay with the fastest. I hope for a nice weekend with a race at the same level of the best we’ve had so far. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: REDDING AND KALLIO ALL SET FOR ARAGON ENCOUNTER The Marc VDS Racing Team return to action this weekend at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain, the venue for round 13 of the 2011 Moto2 World Championship. Scott Redding and Mika Kallio head for Aragon from Valencia, where the two Marc VDS riders successfully completed two days of testing earlier this week. After fifth place finishes at Indianapolis and Misano, Scott Redding has his sights set firmly on securing his first podium of the season this weekend. The 18-year-old British rider heads to Aragon in a confident mood following his performance at MIsano, where he led the race and only missed out on a podium finish due to deteriorating rear grip. Kallio fought his way through from 26th position on the grid to finish in the points at Misano, but the Finn is determined to make his life easier this weekend at Aragon by qualifying as close to the top ten as possible. Motorland Aragon, which is situated near the town of Alcaniz in Northern Spain was added to the Moto2 calendar last season, as a late replacement for the cancelled Hungarian Grand Prix. The circuit, with its fast, flowing corners and changes in elevation, proved instantly popular with riders and fans alike. Scott Redding #45 “The test wasn’t as productive as we were hoping, as Dunlop only had one tyre that worked with the track conditions. We tried a few different settings on the bike, but we’ll have to reconfirm these at Aragon to see how they work when grip levels are higher. I’m pretty confident going into this weekend after a good race in Misano, where a podium finish was on the cards until the tyres went away. I like the Aragon track, as it’s quite hard but good fun to ride, and my confidence is improving every time I go out on the bike. I’ll be happy if I can battle at the front of the race once again this weekend and another top five finish would be good.” Mika Kallio #36 “We had some problems with the engine during the two days of testing at Valencia, which meant I didn’t manage to get in as many laps as I was hoping for. But we did manage to confirm a few things that we want to try this weekend in Aragon and my lap time was faster than at the winter test here, so it was positive enough. I like the Aragon track, with its changes of elevation and fast corners, although some of the slower turns are a little bit too tight. This weekend I need to concentrate on qualifying in the top ten. At the last few races I’ve had the pace to run at the front, but it’s not been possible to get there starting from so far back on the grid. If I can qualify close to top then I’m confident we can come away from Aragon with a good result.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Manager “The tyre situation at Valencia, where Dunlop only had one tyre that worked at the track, meant we didn’t quite achieve all our goals during the two days of testing. I’m also a little disappointed that Marc Marquez was the only rider to test the 2012 Suter chassis at Valencia, as there was ample opportunity for Scott to ride the bike during the test. Anyway, we head into Aragon off the back of two good results for Scott and I’m sure we’ll see him challenging at the front of the race once again this weekend. As he showed quite clearly in Misano, a better feeling with the bike has boosted his confidence and he’s now able to run the same pace as the frontrunners quite comfortably. Mika’s race pace is definitely there, but his qualifying performance is letting him down. If he can qualify top ten this weekend, which is his goal, then he too should be challenging closer to the front of the race on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR MOTO LOOKING FOR REPEAT SHOW AT ARAGON FTR MOTO is aiming to repeat its double podium finish of 2010 in this Sunday’s 13th round of the Moto2 World Championship at Aragon in Spain. FTR machines finished first and third at Aragon last year and M211-mounted youngsters Pol Espargaro (HP Tuenti Speed Up) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) will both be looking for victory on home soil after taking podium finishes already in this campaign. Rabat sits in ninth place in the World Championship points standings with Espargaro 17th but just 19 points behind 10th place in the closely-fought series. Italian Simone Corsi, on the Ioda Racing Project M211, remains the highest placed FTR rider in sixth place after tremendous consistency has seen the five times 125cc GP race winner finish in the top 15 in every Moto2 race of 2011. Corsi’s team-mate Mattia Pasini continues to show the promise and potential of a race winner, aiming to add to his 10 grand prix victories in the final five races of 2011. MZ-FTR rider Max Neukirchner aims to return to the form that led to seven point-scoring finishes from the first eight rounds this year while his team-mate Anthony West continues his quest to repeat the performance of Assen, Holland in June when he took fourth place. Yonny Hernandez will return from injury on the Blusens-STX team’s M211 alongside Rabat and Kenny Noyes (FOGI/GP Tech M211) with both Rabat and Noyes hoping to benefit from a Valencia test last week. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda Singha SAG) and team-mate Santiago Hernandez will be out to secure valuable World Championship points at a crucial stage of the season as will Valentin Debise on the Speed Up M211 while Joan Olive will represent Alex Debon’s Aeroport de Castello team at Aragon and for the remainder of 2011. “Aragon is a really important race for everyone,” explained FTR’s Steve Bones. “There are three rounds outside Europe after this before the Valencia final round in November so all teams and riders will begin to switch a little focus to 2012 and many riders will be out to impress. I think we are pretty well placed for a win with the younger FTR riders now firmly displaying their obvious potential.”