FIM Moto2 World Championship
Sachsenring, Germany
July 12, 2014
Qualifying Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):
1. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:24.761
2. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 1:24.885
3. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 1:25.032
4. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 1:25.108
5. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 1:25.118
6. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 1:25.132
7. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:25.142
8. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:25.188
9. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (SUTER), 1:25.240
10. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:25.272
11. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 1:25.484
12. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 1:25.512
13. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 1:25.517
14. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 1:25.545
15. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 1:25.592
16. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 1:25.620
17. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:25.675
18. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 1:25.704
19. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 1:25.707
20. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 1:25.715
21. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 1:25.730
22. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 1:25.743
23. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 1:25.754
24. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 1:25.867
25. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 1:25.904
26. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 1:25.994
27. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 1:26.087
28. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 1:26.109
29. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 1:26.153
30. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 1:26.602
31. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 1:26.636
32. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 1:26.689
33. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:26.763
34. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 1:28.281
35. Nina PRINZ, Germany (SPEED UP), 1:28.739
More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:
Front row at the Sachsenring for Kallio and Rabat
Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany – 12 July 2014: Mika Kallio and Tito Rabat will start tomorrow’s German Moto2 Grand Prix from the front row of the grid, after qualifying second and third respectively at the Sachsenring this afternoon.
It was Kallio who made the early running, posting the fastest lap halfway through the 45-minute qualifying session and then improving on it with almost every lap after. The 31-year-old Finn looked all set to claim his second pole position of the season but was narrowly ousted from the top of the timesheet by Dominque Aegerter right at the end of qualifying.
After finishing this morning’s final free practice session only sixth fastest, Rabat made changes to his Kalex Moto2 machine head of qualifying. The changes paid off, with the 25-year-old Spaniard quicker through the two sectors where he was losing most of his time this morning.
A front row start is critical at the Sachsenring, where chaos is almost guaranteed as the riders head down into turn one for the first time.
Livio Loi will start tomorrow’s German Moto3 Grand Prix from the tenth row of the grid, after qualifying in 29th position this afternoon. The 17-year-old Belgian is feeling more confident than yesterday, after finding a better set up on his KTM during this afternoon’s qualifying session.
Mika Kallio // 2nd // 1’24.885
“There are no points for qualifying, so second is good enough because it puts me on the front row and that is incredibly important here at the Sachsenring. The first corner and the first part of the track are really tricky, so you need to make a good start if you’re going to stay out of trouble. So far this season my starts have been good, so I’m confident I can get away with the leading group tomorrow. Okay, I am a little disappointed to miss out on pole position, especially as the margin was so small, but it’s like this and now we need to focus on the race tomorrow.”
Tito Rabat // 3rd // 1’25.032
“I’m happy to qualify on the front row of the grid as we’ve had quite a few problems this weekend, especially in sector two and sector four. We made some changes to the bike ahead of qualifying that allowed me to push harder and I’m happy to say I was able to improve my lap time. It’s important to start from the front row here, as everything is very close and its better to arrive at turn one at the front of the field, rather than in the middle of it. Tomorrow I need to make a good start if I am to fight for the win.”
Livio Loi // 29th // 1’29.099
“We made a change to the bike ahead of qualifying but it was obvious from the first few laps that we’d gone in the wrong direction. I came into the pits and we made another fairly big change and, immediately, the feeling was much better. I did my best time of the weekend on my first flying lap and I was confident there was more to come. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to improve as, almost as soon as I’d done my first lap, the rain arrived. Tomorrow we need to try and make a few more improvements in warm up. In the race I’m just going to have to get my head down and go for it.”
Michael Bartholemy // Team Principal
“Again, a great job by both Mika and Tito in qualifying, although Mika was unlucky to lose out on pole right at the end, to what was an impressive lap from Dominique Aegerter. Our eighth pole position of the season would have been nice, but far more important is that both riders will start from the front row of the grid. Turn one at Sachsenring is notorious for first lap incidents, so it’s critical to be at the front from the start. Livio and his crew kept working to find a better set up and, in qualifying, it looked like they succeeded. Unfortunately the onset of rain during the session meant he was unable to qualify any higher, but at least he will go into tomorrow’s race with some of his confidence restored.”
More, from a press release issued by AirAsia Caterham Moto2 Team:
Sachsenring Grand Prix Moto2 Qualifying
Circuit: Sachsenring
Circuit Length: 3.671 m
Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco
FP3: P7; 1’25.432 – 28 laps
Qualifying: P7; 1’25.142 – 26 laps
Bike # 2 – Josh Herrin
FP3: P35; 1’28.769 – 3 laps
Qualifying: P30; 1’26.602 – 23 laps
Weather
FP3: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 17°, (track temp) 30°
Qualifying: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 19°, (track temp) 32°
It was an action packed day for the AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team on day two at Sachsenring.
After suffering a high speed crash in FP3 Moto2 rookie Josh Herrin was lucky to escape unhurt, but the damage to his Caterham Suter saw an early end to the American’s morning practice. Impressive work from his crew allowed him to remount the #2 bike for Qualifying, but despite achieving his personal best lap time he was unable to improve in position, qualifying in P30.
Johann Zarco started the day with renewed confidence as he headed out for FP3. Putting in an impressive twenty eight laps he showed his ability to maintain a consistently quick pace throughout. Continuing his good form into Qualifying the Frenchman went out strong launching himself into the top five for the first half of the session, before going on to achieve his quickest time of the weekend, just three tenths off pole position.
#5 Johann Zarco: “I’m quite happy with today because qualifying in seventh place is not bad and also to be only three tenths off P1 is good as I’ve never been this strong at Sachsenring before.
“In the first part of the circuit I’m feeling very confident and then there are some weak points, but maybe we can improve on this tomorrow morning.
“I felt better on the bike as soon as I went out for morning practice and I was also faster on the lap time, then finally again an improvement in the afternoon, so this is a good day.
Tomorrow we don’t know if it’s going to rain or not but it’s a long race with twenty nine laps. I hope to catch the top group and stay with them until the end and see what I can do. The race pace will be very important so hopefully I will be in good form to maintain it and challenge for a podium.”
#2 Josh Herrin: “I crashed in FP3 but I’m fine, just some bruises. I was really impressed with how quickly the guys got the bike back together after having to build a whole new one, so I must say a big thank you to them for that.
“Qualifying was difficult again. It didn’t go how I wanted at all. I made a big mistake on my good lap and lost three or four tenths of a second, so that kind of hurt.
“Despite missing most of the morning’s session we are only about one second off our goal to be in the points, so that’s the positive that I will take from today. I just need to push to find some more time in the morning so that we can have a good race pace.”
Team Manager – Johan Stigefelt: “I think we have a very good pace with Johann. He went very well this morning and we are pretty confident with the tyres, they last long and we saw in qualifying that we can do quite well. Maybe we were looking for a little bit more in terms of position but we are very close to the front guys and the pace we have is very similar. For tomorrow we hope for a good start, to be in the front and then fight with the leaders. It’s going to be a hard race but I think here we have a chance to do well.
“With Josh he had a big crash this morning and damaged the bike so he couldn’t continue the first session. In the afternoon it was more about finding his confidence again but it wasn’t enough. He did a good lap time in the beginning and we thought he could have improved on this but for some reason it didn’t happen. We are disappointed as the position is not where we want to be. It’s too far down for the level of this team and for this bike, so he needs to find something and do much better tomorrow.”