FTR MOTO CONCLUDES 2011 CAMPAIGN WITH SOLID DISPLAY
FTR MOTO had three of its riders in the top six finishers at the 17th and final round of the Moto2 World Championship at Valencia in Spain on Sunday.
Anthony West, on the MZ-FTR, equalled his best result of the year as the Australian crossed the finish line in fourth place at the end of the 27-lap battle. Having never finished in the top 15 all year, American Kenny Noyes was only 2.5s away from a podium finish as he brought the FOGI/GP Tech-backed M211 home in fifth.
Luckless Colombian Yonny Hernandez held second place on the Blusens STX M211 for more than half of the race before running off the circuit in the damp and tricky conditions with three laps to go before rejoining to finish in sixth place, equalling his season-best finish in Germany in July.
West’s team-mate Max Neukirchner bounced back from a practice crash to take ninth place on his MZ-FTR while promising young Spaniard Pol Espargaro finished in the points for the seventh successive race as he took 14th on the HP Tuenti Speed Up M211.
Santiago Hernandez finished in 22nd place on the SAG Team machine with Joan Olive 26th on Alex Debon’s Aeroport de Castello M211.
Simon Corsi, Ioda Racing Project M211, was forced out in the early stages as was Esteve Rabat who ran wide while 10th on lap two and eventually returned to the pits. Ratthapark Wilairot was a 14th lap retirement on the Thai Honda Singha SAG machine.
Speed Up’s Valentin Debise retired on lap seven and Ioda Racing Project’s Mattia Pasini crashed out of eighth place at the first corner of the 11th lap, escaping injury.
“I thought for a moment that Yonny Hernandez was going to grab a second win for us at Valencia but, in the end, nobody would begrudge the victory going to the Gresini Team,” said FTR’s Steve Bones.
He continued: “Overall, we had four riders in the 2010 World Championship, our debut year, and this year 10 riders have scored World Championship points on FTR M211s and we’ve finished in third place in the Constructors World Championship so the progress is evident.”