Third for Rabat at Phillip Island guarantees a Marc VDS World Champion

Phillip Island, Australia: Tito Rabat secured his 12th podium finish of the season at Phillip Island today, coming home in third place and ensuring that this year’s Moto2 World Champion will be a Marc VDS rider.

The 16 points for third place means that today’s race winner, Maverick Viñales, can no longer catch Rabat in the championship. The only rider that can deny the 25-year-old Spaniard his first World Championship title is his Marc VDS teammate, Mika Kallio, who finished fourth today.

It will be a big ask for the 31-year-old Finn, who now sits 41 points behind Rabat in the championship standings with just two races – at Sepang and Valencia – remaining of the 2014 season.

Today’s result also means that Marc VDS will be the first Belgian team to win a World Championship in any class in the 65-year history of Grand Prix racing. Rabat and Kallio have been one-two in the championship standings since the first round in Qatar, taking 10 race wins, 20 podium finishes and 12 pole positions between them in the 16 races so far this season.

Jorge Navarro also enjoyed success at Phillip Island aboard his Kalex-KTM, finishing today’s Moto3 race in 12th position, his best finish since joining the Marc VDS Racing Team at Indianapolis in August.

Tito Rabat // 3rd

“Today was quite difficult. Something happened in turn four; the wind direction must have changed or something because the track was a little bit colder. I was using the same braking reference, but I was going long every time, which was very strange. There were a lot of passes, a lot of movement in the race, so it was difficult. I am happy for the team today, because they have done a great job and I’ve never had the feeling before that I have here at Marc VDS, so they deserve to be team champions. Now I have just two races to try and ensure the team rider crowned as champion is the one with number 53 on his bike!”

Mika Kallio // 4th

“There’s not much to say about today. We had the chance to win today, but it didn’t happen. The extra hard tyres we are forced to use here just don’t suit my riding style. While it’s true that it’s the same for everyone, I seem to have more problems with these tyres than the other riders. Today I felt like I was riding over the limit all the time trying to catch the guys ahead, many times almost crashing because I lost rear grip. I hate these tyres; it’s as simple as that. For me, today’s race was a disaster.”

Jorge Navarro // 12th

“I’m happy with today, because we’ve worked really hard this weekend and we knew we had to make a good race after two races with zero points. The race was hard, because a lot of riders were very aggressive in the opening laps, but I decided to be a little cautious at first because it was important to finish today and I knew it was going to be a long race. In the end I managed to work my way up through the field to finish 12th, my best result in the World Championship. Now we need to keep working and finish the season in the best way we can.”

Michael Bartholemy // Team Principal

“It was pretty obvious that all the riders were struggling for grip today, as I don’t think I’ve seen so many mistakes from the leading group before. It would have been easy for Tito or Mika to make a mistake that put them out of the race, but they both rode intelligently to score important points. Third place for Tito means that only Mika can catch him in the championship now, so Marc VDS will be Moto2 World Champions at the end of the season. It’s the first time a Belgian team has won a Grand Prix World Championship, which, as a Belgian, makes me very proud. I suspect our President, Marc van der Straten, will also be very proud of what his team has achieved, and rightly so. But, while we’re a Belgian team, we count amongst our number many different nationalities and, to them, I’d like to say thank you for all their hard work and dedication this season. Now we just need to see which of our two riders will be crowned 2014 Moto2 World Champion and the end of the season.”

More, from a press release issued by Paul Bird Motorsport:

Laverty Battles Into The Points At Phillip Island

Ulsterman Michael Laverty finally overcame a season of frustration to record his best result of the year when he recorded a 13th place finish in round 16 of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship which took place at Phillip Island earlier today.

Having recorded a number of finishes just outside the points this season, the former British Supersport Champion added to his only points haul from Indianapolis with a superb performance in Australia.

The Penrith-based PBM team were hoping the track would suit their machines better although Laverty, on the Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed Aprilia ART-powered PBM, struggled during qualifying and could only manage 21st place on the grid.

It was even worse for Australian team-mate Broc Parkes who was looking to impress at his home round but a high speed crash aboard the Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed PBM in the opening practice saw him sustain a damaged shoulder although he did battle through qualifying to start from row eight.

Neither Laverty nor twice runner-up in the World Supersport Championship Parkes made great starts and for the opening laps circulated just outside the top 20. Parkes eventually called it a day as his injuries got the better of him on lap 13 and he was forced to retire as Laverty continued to climb the leaderboard.

By lap 20, he was just outside the points but towards the end of the race, he clawed his way up the leaderboard to cross the finishing line in 13th place to claim a further three points to add to the two he scored in America.

The result sees Laverty elevated to 25th in the MotoGP World Championship table with Parkes in 23rd after his three points scoring rides in Qatar, Assen and Indianapolis this season. Despite Parkes’ non-finish, the Cumbrian team made it 28 finishes out of the 32 races to date for the British-made machine.

Parkes is tenth in the Open class standings and third in Rookie of the Year. Laverty occupies 12th in the Open class whilst importantly for the PBM team, they hold sixth place in the Constructor’s table and 13th in the team’s standings.

The PBM MotoGP team is next in action at Sepang in Malaysia next weekend for the penultimate round of the series, followed by the final race of the season in Valencia on November 9th.

Michael Laverty: “I’m happy to get some more points on the board today, it was a race of attrition but we performed well overall. The new tyres made it a challenge this weekend; however the team adjusted the bike to work the tyres harder, giving me a more comfortable feeling with every session. We move onto Sepang now where it will be nice to forget about tyre temperatures for the weekend as it’s like racing in an oven. Congratulations to the BSB side of the team in securing another title today.”

Broc Parkes: “I had high hopes for my home Grand Prix and it’s the race I’ve been looking forward to all year so to fall down early on wasn’t what I wanted. I bashed myself around and it was a struggle thereafter. I gave it a go in the race but in the end had to admit defeat which is doubly frustrating given I had a good chance of adding to my points total this weekend. Hopefully I’ll feel better in Sepang and we can give it another go there.”

Phil Borley, Technical Director: “We were hoping the Phillip Island circuit would suit our bikes more than the last few races but from the first session we have been struggling to find the rear grip to be more competitive. The tyres developed especially for the factory bikes at this circuit have not helped us, but they are the same for the other Open teams so we have not found a way of achieving their optimum performance. Broc’s home race was affected by the 130mph crash he suffered in the first practice session, which both damaged his shoulder and his confidence. It was a shame he could not complete the race due to his condition, as with the rate of attrition he would have scored at least a point. Michael made a good start but couldn’t match the pace of some of the other riders at the beginning of the race, although his pace was more competitive in the latter stages. The positive to take from the weekend is his points scoring finish.”

For more information, please visit the team’s website www.pbmuk.net and www.pbmuk.net

More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:

Gino Rea out to start afresh in Malaysia after a challenging weekend at Phillip Island

Gino Rea came out on top of a race long battle to finish 21st at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Sunday. Rea had a difficult start to the race, losing a position from his qualifying position of 27th. Three quarters of the way in, Gino found his pace and battled within a group from 27th to 21st. Rea fought his way to the front of this group, overtaking home rider Ant West on the last lap to finish 21st. It was a challenging weekend for the AGT REA Racing team however they look forward to making the journey to Sepang where Gino finished 2nd in spectacular style at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix. 

Rea comments on his weekend at Phillip Island: “Position wise it’s not too bad considering we started 27th but I’m not happy with the first half of the race. After qualifying 27th we didn’t have a lot to lose so we changed the bike from warm up to race to try to improve certain areas and I just did not have the pace until the last quarter of the race. Other than position, I was in big battle and managed to pass Ant West on the last lap to come out at the front of the group. Nice to battle but we really need to sort out our qualifying so we can battle higher up. This weekend hasn’t gone smooth for us at all so I’m quite happy to get it finished and turn the page starting in a few days at the next race in Sepang. Going into Sepang, I like the circuit, it suits me a lot more than here at Phillip Island. Hopefully we can have a stronger Saturday and battle in the Top 15 like in Motegi.”

Dave Peterson, Team Principal: “We struggled all weekend, from the first practice, first lap crash, I knew it was going to be tough here. Gino isn’t a huge fan of the track, the wind was up and down, temperature up and down and we could never find the right setting. So seeing him battle in the group from 27th to 21st was the highlight of the weekend. On to Sepang!”

AGT REA Racing will conclude their flyaway trip next weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.

More, from a press release issued by AirAsia Caterham Moto2 Team:

Australian Grand Prix Race Report

Circuit: Phillip Island

Circuit Length: 4.448 km

Race Length: 25 laps

Weather

Race: Dry; (air temp) 16°, (track temp) 29°

Race day saw a disappointing end for the AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team, with both riders crashing out of Australian Grand Prix.

#5 Johann Zarco: DNF

“It has been a bad Sunday. Already this morning in warm up the feeling was not the same as yesterday because there was a lot of wind and not the same temperature, so with this sensitive bike I could not be comfortable. We tried to fix it for the race but in the race I was not able to stay with the top five riders. Finally I tried to find a solution to improve my lap time but it was not coming. One rider overtook me and made a mistake in front of me between corner one and two, so I had to brake and I crashed. I’m very disappointed for this. We have had a good pace now for many races so to loose the momentum here is a great shame.

“Now I must put this behind me and look forward. I hope Malaysia will be better and I will do my best to get back the good feeling there.”

#14 Ratthapark Wilairot: DNF

“This morning we put a new setup on the bike and changed a little the geometry. In warm up the wind started to get stronger but it was not too bad. I struggled a little with the conditions but mainly I felt ok on the bike and we were a lot closer to the top.

“In the race my start was ok but I was not aggressive enough on the first couple of laps and so many riders passed me. – I must be stronger at the start.

“After that I tried to get my pace but I felt on most laps that the bike was moving a lot in the fast corners and I was nearly crashing; I think because of the change in direction of the wind. Then in the fourth corner I tried and tried to hold it but I lost the front. I broke my brake lever so I couldn’t continue.

“It’s very disappointing because we are improving every session with the setup of my Caterham Suter. Today was not a good race for us but we will continue to work and we will push for the results in Malaysia.”

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager: “It’s not been a good race at all for us today. It has been different conditions than yesterday with the wind changing direction on the grid. I think this made our whole bike way too long in gearing, which we could see on the straight. We saw from the first couple of laps that Johann couldn’t really follow the front guys and lost every lap a little bit. Then a few of the other riders caught him up and one made a mistake just in front of him, so by trying to avoid it he crashed, which was not good.

“Obviously it is not what we were hoping for because we were capable of a better result here. After qualifying yesterday the bike felt very good for Johann, so it’s disappointing that it didn’t work out in the race today. I’m sad for that but we have to look forward to the next one and hopefully in Malaysia we can be back. It is more difficult now to reach our target of a top five finish in the Championship, but at least we have not lost any positions.

“Ratthapark’s start was again not strong enough and it was difficult for him to catch up, but once he got going he made some good lap times and started to catch the group in front of him. He had worked his way up to P20 but then he made a mistake and crashed as well, which is not good at all.

“Now we will head to Malaysia and we are looking forward to this. It is the home race for AirAsia and this is very important to us, so we will be giving it our all once again and I hope that we can get back to our strong form.”

More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:

West runs off the track but comes back to take 22nd place – Ramos battles from start to finish for 23rd

QMMF Racing Team riders Anthony West and Roman Ramos looked like true team-mates in the Australian Grand Prix, riding side by side and one after the other for most of the second part of the Moto2 race to finish in 22nd and 23rd spot.

But the first part of the race couldn’t have been more different for both of them. Whereas Ramos fought within his group from the first to the final lap, recovering from his 31st place on the grid steadily and gaining position by position, West stormed into the Top 20 almost immediately and was close to the point rankings when he made a small mistake going into a turn and ran off the track. Almost dead-last, West started his hunt for the second time and recovered quickly from 30th place, but the big success that he had hoped for at his home Grand Prix remained out of reach.

Anthony West – 22nd place

“I had a good start and passed many riders in the first half of a lap. Then, I had a big highside and lost three positions. I kept fighting and I felt the bike was heavy to turn compared to other riders in the fast sections, so it was difficult to ride. It got worse the more fuel I burned, because the fuel load kept the front down to help it turn. There was a group in front of me and I could have stayed with them to get points, but when I entered one turn I made a small mistake and went straight off the track. From there I came back and caught up with the pack of riders in front of me, but the real race was over!”

Roman Ramos – 23rd place

“It was a tough weekend, especially Friday and Saturday. But after the warm-up, we made another change to the set-up of the bike and as it turned out in the race, it was much better than before. I was battling with people that I had considered unreachable before and I was able to defend myself as well. I fought tooth and nail from the first lap not to let the group in front of me escape and this paid off. All in all I can’t be too happy with the weekend, but at least we managed to fix some of our issues for the race and put up a fight. I hope this will help us to have a good start into the next race in Malaysia. I want to thank the team because they haven’t stopped working and trying to give me the best solutions for this difficult track!”

More, from a press release issued by KTM:

MILLER WINS AT HOME, GAINS POINTS IN MOTO3 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE RACE

Australia’s Jack Miller rode a tight and smart race on Sunday at home at the Phillip Island circuit to take victory in Rd. 16 of the Moto3 World Championship. With his fifth victory of the season, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider gained an important five points on Alex Marquez of Spain as the competition goes into it’s final stages.

Marquez, who finished second in the race ahead of teammate Alex Rins now leads Miller in the championship by 20 points with just two races to go.

Clearly excited about his victory at home, Miller said he had had had some valuable tips from his friend Maverick Vinales on how to best tackle the Australian circuit, adding: “I just tried to time it to do everything perfect in the last lap.”

It was a thrilling last lap for the Australian crowd that saw Miller take the win from his Spanish rival by just 29 thousandths of a second. The Red Bull-sponsored athlete started in the middle of row three on the grid. By lap 4 of the 23-lap race he had set the fastest lap and moved up into podium contention, tucked in behind Rins and Brad Binder.

An eleven-rider group broke away from the main field in the early stages and while the front-runners constantly exchanged the lead throughout the race, Miller stayed in the thick of the action.

The lead group dropped to five in the latter stages of the race, then with just three laps to go Miller hit the front on his KTM RC250 GP machine, only to slip back to second in the penultimate lap. He grabbed the lead going into the Doohan corner in the final lap and with clever riding and brave late braking held off hard challenges to take the trophy.

Miller’s young teammate Karel Hanika of the Czech Republic was racing at Phillip Island for the first time. He remained in the middle of the field for most of the race but finished in thirteenth place in what is an increasingly competitive field of young riders.

KTM riders Jakub Kornfeil (CZE) and Niccolo Antonelli (ITA) both had top ten finishes while two young Australia wild card entries on KTMs, Remy Gardner, son of former 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner and Olly Simpson, a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup competitor finished 26-28. They were both making their first appearance in the elite Moto3 class of the World Championship.

Miller, who led the championship points through the first 14 rounds of the 18-round competition has edged five points closer to Marquez. He now has to go all out to make up the deficit in the two remaining rounds, in Malaysia next weekend and then in Valencia, Spain to close the season.

More at www.motogp.com

KTM Results

Moto3 Rd. 16

At Phillip Island Australia

1, Jack Miller, AUS, KTM, 37:25.209

2, Alex Marquez, ESP, Honda, 37:25.238

3, Alex Rins, ESP, Honda, 37:25.241

4, Efren Vazquez, ESP, Honda, 37:25.253

5, John McPhee, GBR, Honda, 37:25.343

6, Alexis Masbou, FRA, Honda, 37:25.451

7, Miguel Oliveira, POR, Mahindra, 37:27.962

8, Jakub Kornfeil, CZE, KTM, 37:28.664

9, Niklas Ajo, FIN, Husqvarna, 37:43.327

10, Niccolo Antonelli, ITA, KTM, 37:43.328

Other KTM

11, Francesco Bagnaia, ITA, KTM, 37:43.413

13, Karel Hanika, CZE, KTM, 37:43.487

18, Hafiq Azmi, MAL, KTM, 37:51.103

26, Remy Gardner, AUS, KTM 38:21.483

28, Olly Simpson, AUS, KTM, 38:22.549

DNF Romano Fenati, ITA, KTM

DNF Isaac Vinales, ESP KTM

Championship Standings

1, Marquez, 251

2, Miller 231

3, Rins, 210

4, Vazquez, 187

5, Fenati 175

Other KTM

7, Vinales 121

8, Bastianini 116

9, Kent 103

10, Binder 102

Other KTM

12, Kornfeil, 86

15, Bagnaia 50

16, Antonelli, 50

18, Hanika, 31

29, Granado 2

Manufacturer’s Standings

1, Honda 343

2, KTM 335

3, Mahindra 158

4, Husqvarna 130

Kalex-KTM 56

FTR KTM 4

More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Racing:

Schrotter storms to personal best finish at Phillip Island

Marcel Schrotter surged to a fantastic 7th position in round 16 of the Moto2 World Championship at Phillip Island today, to seize his best ever result in the Moto2 class aboard the Mistral 610. The young German began the 25 lap dash around the 4448 meter circuit from 10th on the grid, having brilliantly completed the morning warm up in 3rd place, leaving him fully confident of a charge to the top ten. As the lights flicked to green, he lunged forward immediately to complete the first lap in 7th having aggressively overtaken three additional riders. From here, the 21 year old ran behind the leading group and then became involved in the fight for 4th. Several laps later, Schrotter was locked in a fierce battle with Johann Zarco and Sandro Cortese as he fought for 6th position which continued for the rest of the 25 lap long race. The young German remained in the hunt and fought mercilessly right until the finish flag before eventually clinching an expertly executed 7th, which was only 0.080 behind 6th place. His superb performance today marks a fantastic close to a strong weekend as he was just 11.777 seconds behind the leading bike in the super competitive intermediate class. The 7th place sees him elevated one place up to 11th in the championship standings and he now confidently looks towards the Malaysian race next week.

On the other hand Ricky Cardus, undertook a brave effort to end up in 16th at the Tissot Australian Grand Prix after issues with his helmet hindered his efforts to score a top ten finish. The Spanish rider began the race right behind his teammate in 11th place on the grid and as the event began, undertook a typically forward start to leap up to 8th by the close of the first lap. However, the connection of his camelback water supply broke and caused liquid to spray inside his helmet causing vision problems. Therefore, on the tenth lap Cardus had slipped back to 17th but remained determined to try and ascend up the field and get back inside the points. The Spanish rider relentlessly powered onwards throughout the 25 lap race and despite a tough effort, he eventually finished in 16th position and just outside the points. The Tech3 rider will now look towards the next race in a weeks time at Sepang where he will aim to bounce back and produce a strong performance as he targets the top ten once again.

Marcel Schrotter – Race : 7th – Championship : 11th – Points : 66

“It goes without saying that I am really happy to have ridden to my best ever position today at Phillip Island. I had a strong start and managed to climb up a few positions even though it could have been better as I didn’t choose the best line in the first couple of corners. However, I closed the gap to the leading group right away and I knew that I was able to run at their pace. Yet, Zarco held me up a little bit as I struggled in trying to get past him because he was very strong on the brakes. Then once I got through, I was hit by a sudden gust of wind so he got back past me along with Cortese. At this stage of the race, the three of us basically had our own GP with the lap times not being the most critical factor. I could follow Cortese quite comfortably, but he had a very fast bike and I wasn’t able to pass him out of the slip steam, so I made my move on the last downhill right corner. However, the gap I made was unfortunately not big enough for me to meet the finish line in 6th so he retook the place from me right at the chequered flag. Of course, this leaves me with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth as I lost out to my compatriot, yet I did gain one position in the championship and finished just over ten seconds from the leader which is our best result so far this year. Therefore I am very pleased with the whole weekend and look forward to continuing this form in Malaysia.”

Ricky Cardus – Race : 16th – Championship : 20th – Points : 37

“Unfortunately today was a very difficult race for me in Australia. In all honesty, I feel that I made an error in choosing to ask the team to drill holes in the fairing in order to combat the wind, which was quite strong today. This slowed me down a lot on the straight and many riders managed to pass me. Yet, my biggest concern was vision problems, as the connection of my camelback inside my helmet broke in the middle of the race and I wasn’t able to see anything on the straight. Therefore, I got a bit nervous and struggled enormously to find the right braking points and lines as there was a lot of water inside my helmet which really hindered my progress. Nevertheless, there are still positives for the weekend as we had a good pace during all the sessions and qualified well, so we intend to repeat this performance in Sepang next week.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager :

“It was a great race for the Tech3 Racing Team in Australia thanks to Marcel’s performance. Throughout the whole weekend he was very strong, just like in Japan, although this time he didn’t make any mistakes in the race and managed to score his best ever result in the Moto2 World Championship. He had a great start, a strong rhythm and the battle between Marcel, Cortese and Zarco at the beginning was very competitive. In addition, he managed to run with the front group for the first few laps so of course, he will have learnt a lot. I am very happy and proud to see him clinch his 7th place finish with the Tech3 Racing Team on the Mistral 610. So I must say thank you as well as congratulations to him and the team. On the other side of the garage, we expected a lot from Ricky today as he had a good, firm qualifying just like Marcel and then took a strong start. However, he was unfortunate to suffer with the problems that he had with his helmet as well as loosing speed due to the holes in the fairing which he chose to have. Hopefully he will remember the positives from this weekend and come back stronger than ever in Malaysia next week where we hope to see his full potential.”