Djim Ulrich, a 15-year-old from the Netherlands, was the fastest rider in the second free practice for the Santander Consumer Finance KTM British Junior Cup & RC390 Cup World Final Friday at Silverstone Circuit, in England. Ulrich, who stands well over six-feet-tall and has never ridden at Silverstone before, cut more than a second off his time and topped the session with a 2:36.414 even though he said he made no changes to the setup of his motorcycle.
“I didn’t really change anything,” Ulrich told Roadracingworld.com. “I just tried to find better lines and braking points and where to put on the gas.”
Another Dutch rider, 16-year-old Robert Schotman, was second-best with a time of 2:36.545, which was slightly faster than the 2:36.682 he did to lead the opening practice. Schotman was a regular in the 2015 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and finished 12th and ninth in that series’ two races at Silverstone about one month ago.
Third-fastest in Free Practice Two was 14-year-old Finnish rider Patrik Pulkkinen, another Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup regular, who dropped his best time from 2:38.293 in the first practice down to 2:36.978 in the later session.
The quickest MotoAmerica rider was 15-year-old Anthony Mazziotto III, who shaved his fastest time from 2:38.627 down to 2:38.006 in FP2. That ranked Mazziotto 12th overall.
“We made some changes to the suspension and the gearing,” said Mazziotto. “The suspension change gave me more rear grip, which was good. I went out at the back of the group to ride by myself, and I was only about one second off the leaders without a draft. I think if I go out in the draft tomorrow I’ll be able to make up some time because Gage [McAllister] had 7 mph on me in the speed trap because he was in the draft. He was 7 mph faster on one straightaway and 5 mph faster on another straight.”
McAllister, age 20, finished the session with a best time of 2:38.115, which was a big improvement over the 2:40.093 he did in the first practice. McAllister’s lap time ranked him 13th overall, but he was number one through the speed traps at 117.1 mph.
“We changed the tire pressures front and rear, and the front grip felt a lot better,” said McAllister. “We changed the position of the rear brake so I could use it better, and we adjusted the shift lever because it was getting hung up on the shaft and causing me problems shifting. Everything felt a lot better at the end of the session, but I went faster at the beginning because that’s when I was getting cleaner laps. I feel a lot better now with the track and the bike, but I don’t feel like I put my best lap together.”
Hayden Schultz did a 17th-best 2:38.653 in FP2, which was a marginal improvement over the 2:38.871 he did in FP1, but the 18-year-old said the many changes he made to his bike made a big improvement in its feel.
“We changed the tire pressures, the gearing and some of the clickers on the suspension,” said Schultz, “and it helped a lot. It didn’t show up in the lap time because I pitted during the session and lost the group I was with and the draft. I was feeling really strong on the brakes that session, and I’m feeling confident about tomorrow. I’m hoping to get in a group tomorrow and working together to get a good lap time.”
Braeden Ortt, a 14-year-old Canadian, went over three seconds faster in the second practice thanks to his crew, with help from KTM support staff, solving some mechanic problems with his borrowed motorcycle. His best effort of 2:38.904 put him 19th on the time sheet for FP2.
“We changed the shift shaft on the bike, and the transmission felt a lot better,” said Ortt. “I closed the gap to the leaders by quite a bit, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be. The bike is better, now I just need to work on me.”
Justin McWilliams, a 22-year-old from Texas, bounced back from his crash early in FP1 and worked on playing catch-up and learning the track and tires in the second practice, which ended with him 24th overall thanks to his lap of 2:39.847.
“I was essentially starting from scratch,” said McWilliams. “I was sliding around a bit, but I was able to find my groove out there. I was able to follow some quicker guys and learn my way around. It was a good session.”
The KTM RC390 Cup competitors will be back on track for their one and only qualifying session at 10:05 a.m. local time on Saturday. Their first of two races will take place at 2:50 p.m. local time Saturday afternoon.
Santander Consumer Finance KTM British Junior Cup & World Final
Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, England
October 2, 2015
Free Practice Two Results (all on KTM RC390s and Metzeler tires):
1. Djim Ulrich, Netherlands, 2:36.414 W
2. Robert Schotman, Netherlands, 2:36.545 W
3. Patrik Pulkkinen, Finland, 2:36.978 W
4. Sasha de Vits, Netherlands, 2:37.090 W
5. Dennis Stelzer, Germany, 2:37.101 W
6. Joep Overbeeke, Netherlands, 2:37.269 W
7. Sean Kelly, USA/Mexico, 2:37.431 W
8. Toni Erhard, Germany, 2:37.729 W
9. Chris Taylor, UK, 2:37.854
10. Finn de Bruin, Netherlands, 2:37.859 W
11. Cameron Fraser, UK, 2:37.948 W
12. Anthony Mazziotto III, USA, 2:38.006 W
13. Gage McAllister, USA, 2:38.115 W
14. Vili Virtanen, Finland, 2:38.289 W
15. Thomas Strudwick, UK, 2:38.383
16. Kevin Keyes, UK, 2:38.448 W
17. Hayden Schultz, USA, 2:38.653 W
18. Aaron Wright, UK, 2:38.756
19. Braeden Ortt, Canada, 2:38.904 W
20. Marco Fetz, Germany, 2:38.936 W
21. Maximillian Sohnius, Germany, 2:38.976 W
22. James Nagy, UK, 2:39.085
23. Jirka Mrkyvka, Germany, 2:39.333 W
24. Justin McWilliams, USA, 2:39.847 W
25. Lee Hindle, UK, 2:40.654
26. Reece Guyett, UK, 2:42.897
27. Adam Phipps, UK, 2:43.230
28. Sam Lyon, UK, 2:43.871
29. Thomas Airey, UK, 2:45.439
30. Leonardo Carnevalli, Italy, 2:47.554, crash W
31. Ewan Potter, UK, 2:53.920
32. Kieran Styles, UK, 3:02.261
W = World Final competitor