FIM Moto2 World Championship Jerez, Spain April 3, 2011 Race Results (wet conditions, all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Suter), 26 laps, 49:56.423, 85.850 mph 2. Thomas Luthi, Switzerland (Suter), -7.850 seconds 3. Simone Corsi, Italy (FTR), -12.625 4. Bradley Smith, Great Britain (Tech 3), -15.355 5. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Kalex), -17.850 6. Julian Simon, Spain (Suter), -24.247 7. Alex De Angelis, San Marino (Motobi), -27.991, jump start/ride-through penalty 8. Kev Coghlan, Great Britain (FTR), -36.181 9. Michele Pirro, Italy (Moriwaki), -36.775 10. Max Neukirchner, Germany (MZ-RE Honda), -41.407 11. Anthony West, Australi (MZ-RE Honda), -41.711 12. Ratthapark Wilairot, Thailand (FTR), -41.870 13. Mattia Pasini, Italy (FTR), -42.313 14. Yonny Hernandez, Colombia (FTR), -45.384 15. Esteve Rabat, Spain (FTR), -47.193 16. Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey (Suter), -47.204 17. Mika Kallio, Finland (Suter), -47.316 18. Javier Fores, Spain (Suter), -50.677 19. Xavier Simeon, Belgium (Tech 3), -57.958 20. Pol Espargaro, Spain (FTR), -58.554 21. Claudio Corti, Italy (Suter), -67.467 22. Ricard Cardus, Spain (Moriwaki), -70.925, crash 23. Scott Redding, Great Britain (Suter), -76.149 24. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (Pons Kalex), -79.512, crash 25. Raffaele De Rosa, Italy (Moriwaki), -82.459, crash 26. Mike Di Meglio, France (Tech 3), -86.753 27. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland (Kalex), -97.226 28. Dominique Aegerter, Switzerland (Suter), -102.838 29. Kenny Noyes, USA (FTR), -114.532, crash 30. Valentin Debise, France (FTR), -117.120 31. Santiago Hernandez, Colombia (FTR), -1 lap 32. Steven Odendaal, South Africa, Suter), -1 lap 33. Mashel Al Naimi, Qatar (Moriwaki), -3 laps, crash, pitted 34. Alex Baldolini, Italy (Suter), -14 laps, DNF, retired 35. Marc Marquez, Spain (Suter), -16 laps, DNF, crash 36. Jules Cluzel, France (Suter), -16 laps, DNF, crash 37. Yuki Takahashi, Japan (Moriwaki), -17 laps, DNF, crash 38. Robertino Pietri, Venezuela (Suter), -22 laps, DNF, crash 39. Lukasz Wargala, Poland (Moriwaki), -25 laps, DNF, crash 40. Axel Pons, Spain (Pons Kalex), -26 laps, DNF, crash Race Distance, 26 laps, 71.456 miles Race Time, 49 minutes, 56.423 seconds Race Average Speed, 85.850 mph Victory Margin, 7.850 seconds Fastest Lap, Iannone, 1:53.893, 86.870 mph, Lap 10 World Championship Point Standings (after 2 of 17 races): 1. Iannone, 45 points 2. TIE, Bradl/Luthi, 36 points 4. Corsi, 26 points 5. De Angelis, 22 points 6. Smith, 20 points 7. Simon, 16 points 8. Pirro, 15 points 9. Takahashi, 11 points 10. Cluzel, 9 points 11. Coghlan, 8 points 12. Neukirchner, 7 points 13. Hernandez, 6 points 14. TIE, West/Aleix Espargaro, 5 points 16. Wilairot, 4 points 17. TIE, Pasini/Aegerter/Rabat, 3 points More, from a press release issued by JiR Team: GP of Spain, race: De Angelis recovers to 7th As expected, the rain arrived at the Jerez de la Frontera track, making teams and riders’ work even harder as they had zero set up time in the wet during the previous two days. After 26 laps the podium was composed of winner Andrea Iannone, followed by Thomas Luthi another Italian, Simone Corsi. Our own Alex De Angelis recovered to 7th after a tough race. The Team JiR’s rider made a little mistake just before the green light as he let go of the clutch which made his MotoBI make a jump forward, giving the rider a penalty for a jump start. After he paid his penalty of a ride through, De Angelis got back on track launching himself in a furious recovery, exploiting the set up found for his MotoBI to recover back to 7th overall. Gianluca Montiron Alex showed determination in managing the situation, by never giving and recovering many positions on track. The whole team showed excellent communication, skill and capability to manage a tough situation. The team worked hard on the machine in a very efficient way to adapt to the rain conditions, improving a lot compared to the warm up during which we were pretty far from the fastest riders. I’m satisfied with the team’s work and the strength showed by Alex, it was only the second race so this is just a backward step in a long championship. Alex DeAngelis I’m not so happy for the race but I’m satisfied with many aspects of it. The mistake on the grid was only a small mistake, but of course it influenced the whole race, and I want to apologize to my team for this. I knew I would have been penalized so I tried to wait as long as possible hoping that the pack could be not so compact so I could get back on the track not too far from leaders. When I got back from the ride through I was pretty far behind but I felt good with the machine, the team’s technicians did a huge amount of work from the warm up to give me a very good performing MotoBI. I managed to post some very fast times even without forcing things too much, because I didn’t want to incur another mistake. Finally I managed to recover to 7th place. With hindsight I would say that with these lap times I could have raced for the podium, but the season is still long. For sure I’m happy for the work we’ve done both in last days on dry and today in the wet, it seems we have a high performing machine. More, from a press release issued by Tech 3: Fantastic fourth for Smith at rain-hit Jerez Bradley Smith produced another outstanding performance for the Tech 3 Racing Team in today’s Spanish Moto2 Grand Prix, the British rider expertly mastering treacherous conditions to claim a fantastic fourth position. Making only his second start in the ultra-competitive series, Smith adapted himself superbly to the tricky conditions as the light rain that fell persistently throughout the morning continued for the entire 26-lap race. Smith made a super fast start from fifth position on the grid and the British rider wasted no time in seizing an opportunity to claim the lead on the first lap. He was quickly passed by Simone Corsi and Thomas Luthi but continued a brilliant early char ge to remain in the top three until lap seven when eventual winner Andrea Iannone came by. With Luthi and Iannone breaking away at the front, Smith continued to exert intense pressure on Corsi for the final podium place with ten laps remaining before he became engaged in an exciting fight for fourth with Stefan Bradl. The 20-year-old dropped to fifth on lap 18 but refused to let Qatar Moto2 race winner Bradl pull away and when the German made a mistake on the penultimate lap, Smith was on hand to pounce. He then produced a controlled display of aggressive riding to prevent Bradl fighting back to finish fourth and move into sixth position in the overall rankings. Mike di Meglio ended a difficult Spanish Grand Prix weekend down in 27th place, the French rider struggling to find a confident set-up for the wet conditions. Bradley Smith 4th 20 points “I thought ninth was a great result in Qatar, so fourth just feels fantastic and I want to thank my Tech 3 Racing Team and my crew chief Tom Jojic because the bike was working brilliantly in really difficult conditions. The step we made with the set-up in the wet conditions from the Warm-up was huge and I felt much more confident in the race. In those conditions you need to concentrate so hard that the race feels like a lifetime but I just decided to attack from the start. I was a bit shocked to lead but I felt comfortable because it’s not the first time I’ve been at the front of a Grand Prix. I realised pretty quickly I didn’t have the pace to match Luthi and Iannone when they came by but that’s down to my inexperience and a bit of confidence to push like they were in the rain. If I could run the race again though I’m sure I could have stayed with Corsi and battl close r for the podium. I just lost my rhythm a little bit at about two-thirds distance after a couple of big moments and I got a bit tense and that doesn’t help you ride fast in the rain. It was great to fight with Bradl and once he came by I relaxed a little bit and picked up my pace again. When he made that late mistake I just decided to attack and push as hard as I could and fourth is an amazing result when you consider how tough this class is and how difficult the conditions were. I’ve still got a lot to learn to be fighting closer for the podium but I’ll take this fourth with both hands and look forward to the next race in Estoril with a lot of confidence and optimism.” Mike di Meglio 26th 0 points “The whole weekend was very difficult. We had the crash on Friday and a lot of things were going on. Now we have a bigger break and I hope we will be ab le to test, as I need to understand what is going on. The bike is good I think, but unfortunately I did not find the right balance yet. We start off quite close to the first riders in practice, but then we start to lose more and more time and that is not normal. We need to understand why this happens before Portugal. I hope that we will be able to get back to the front soon where Bradley is because he’s doing a fantastic job for the Tech 3 Racing Team.” Herve Poncharal – Team Manager “We never like to see a race start in these conditions as we never know what will happen. The conditions are very tricky and anything really can happen. Fortunately Bradley was born in England and he can cope with the rain! His start was awesome. He was aggressive at the right moment, took the lead and was able to be close to the front for a few laps. But importantly he never tried too hard and let the others pass when he thought it was wiser to let them get in front. The second part of the race was very long for my heart. It started to rain more, so it got more difficult as the tyres got more used. I am really pleased with Bradley and his way of learning and his improvements. He is really fast and that shows that the Mistral610 has a good potential, which I hope can be picked up by Mike. It was a tough weekend for Mike and clearly he needs to find some confidence. I have no doubt that he can go fast and I believe in him and I hope that the fact that Bradley is doing so well will help Mike to get his confidence back.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3: Difficult weekend for Xavier Siméon at Jerez Xavier Siméon finished the second Moto2 Grand Prix of the 2011 season in 19th place today at the Jerez track. The conditions were far from perfect as it started to rain just when the paddock filled with people this morning before the start of the Warm up. Siméon normally has a good feeling in the rain, but he was unable to find a comfortable set-up with his Mistral 610 machine. The whole weekend was tough for the Belgian rider, but nevertheless he was able to improve step by step, even though he still needs to find the right feeling with his bike for the next round of the 2011 World Championship in Estoril, Portugal. As Siméon was missing most of the winter testing he ha s some disadvantage over his team-mates. But Bradley Smith’s excellent race saw him just miss out of the podium in fourth position, a result which gives Siméon the right confidence to improve further in the upcoming races. Xavier Siméon – 19th – 0 points: “Normally I have a lot of confidence in the rain. Somehow I lost some of that. I don’t have a good feeling with the bike and the front. When I open the gas I lose grip and we have to find a solution for that as in the dry conditions I have the same problem. It is the second race. We did not test a lot this winter, but the gap is too big for me. I hope we can improve in the next races. My feeling with the bike is really strange as for me it feels like the chassis is broken, which of course it is not. I really need a solution here to be able to improve further.” Hervé Poncharal- Team Manager: “It was a tough weekend for Xavier, but to see what Bradley has done will give him some booth and confidence that he has the right package. In the race he was a lot more aggressive and a lot closer and he gained a lot of position and I am sure that with a better grid position he would have been in the points. He did clearly a much better race than in Qatar. We are going in the right direction. He is missing the winter testing, but I am confident that our RTL rider will soon be in the points.” More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: MARC VDS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS AFTER JEREZ The Marc VDS Racing Team experienced another disappointing result at the end of a rain-affected Spanish Moto2 race in Jerez this afternoon. Mika Kallio called on all of his fighting qualities to lead an enthralling four-rider tussle that involved Yonny Hernandez, Max Neukirchner, Kenan Sofuoglu and Ratthapark Wilairot for 13th position. Attacking to keep Hernandez at bay, he was nudged from behind in the braking zone to the Curva Angel Nieto with four laps remaining. But as his Suter MMXI machine slid sideways, the Finnish rider produced an early candidate for save of the season to amazingly retain control and stay on track. The collision though caused major damage to Kallio’s exhaust pipe and the subsequent reduction in power saw him drop down the rankings to 17th. He continued to push hard and at the conclusion of the 26-lap race he was less than 0.2s away from the points. The race, which was run on a wet track with rain falling persistently throughout, proved to be another frustrating affair for Scott Redding. The 18-year-old looked on course to bounce back quickly from his disappointing result in the opening race of 2011 in Qatar last month as he fought hard to force his way into contention for the top ten in the early stages. As the field quickly adjusted to the wet surface, Redding immediately encountered front and rear grip issues, and unable to maintain his pace he dropped down the order to finish in 23rd position. Mika Kallio #36: Race Position 17th “It would have been good to finish in the points for the first time but finishing in 14th and 15th position is definitely not the result we are looking for. I was leading a strong battle when I got touched from behind and I almost crashed. I’m still not quite sure how I saved it but maybe my ice racing skills from Finland came in useful! But the impact was quite heavy and there was a lot of damage to the exhaust, so I lost a lot of power and I couldn’t defend the places. We made a radical change to the set-up of the bike for the race, putting a lot more weight on the front-end to help with the turning and it felt like a good improvement that should help for the future. I felt confident and comfortable in the first few laps but after seven laps there was a big drop in the grip from the tyres and it became difficult to improve my pace. The result wasn’t great at all but I think we have found a direction with the set-up of the bike that should work for the next race in Estoril, where we have to try and improve to be challenging where the Marc VDS Racing Team should be.” Scott Redding #45: Race Position 23rd “I don’t really have so much to say after that other than it is obvious I am not happy to be outside of the points at the end of another difficult and frustrating weekend. I just couldn’t get the bike to work again and I had no feeling from the front or the rear in the wet conditions. Even on the Warm-up lap I nearly crashed and I just didn’t feel comfortable in the wet conditions. The rear was backing into the corner and I didn’t have the confidence with the front-end again, so we’ve got to find a solution quickly because the start of the season has been well below our pre-season expectations. We can’t seem to get the bike working at all and we need to try and bounce back in Estoril.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Manager “This is not the result we were expecting and for sure I will not be in this position again after the next race in Estoril. We’ve had a lot of time to solve our problems with winter testing and now two races, so I want to see Scott and his crew and Mika and his crew come up with answers and solutions before we go to Estoril. This is the second race in a row now that we are leaving without any points and that is a situation that has to drastically change quickly. Scott hasn’t been able to get comfortable on the bike again so we have to understand what we can do to help him. Mika was battling hard and I’m confident he would have scored his first points until he was hit and the exhaust got damaged. But where he was fighting was not ideal and we should be in a position much closer to the front.”