PBM Miss Out In Dramatic German GP As Laverty Runs Second!
Following on from a sensational weather affected MotoGP last time out in Assen, the drama continued in today’s eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland as the weather again played its part in round nine of the World Championship held at the Sachsenring.
Just like Assen, it turned out to be bitter sweet for the Cumbria based PBM MotoGP team as despite a promising start, it ended in disappointment for both Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes but not before Laverty had sensationally held second place in the opening stages of the race.
Free Practice had seen Ulsterman Laverty show good pace on the Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed Aprilia ART-powered PBM, claiming 14th in the second session as he improved his feel with the bike. The former British Supersport champion continued the good form into qualifying to claim a row six start in 18th place.
For Australian team-mate Broc Parkes, he was hoping to replicate his career best 11th place finish at the previous round in Holland to add to the point he scored in Qatar. However, it proved a difficult weekend for the double World Supersport runner-up, compounded with a big crash on Saturday which wrecked his number one Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed PBM machine and left him down on row eight of the grid.
With the storm clouds gathering and rain starting to fall just before the start, with lessons learned from Assen, both PBM riders started on slicks as in unprecedented scenes, most of the field opted to change from their wet set-ups meaning a pit lane start for them all.
Although he had to start from the back of the grid, Laverty shadowed German Stefan Bradl for the opening laps, holding an amazing second place for the opening couple of laps before the field started swallowing him up. Parkes, meanwhile, also took his place on the grid and was inside the top ten for the opening laps also.
As the race progressed, Laverty battled hard in the lower echelons of the points until with 12 laps to go, he crashed out, amazingly given the conditions, the only non finisher in the race. Parkes, meanwhile, struggled against an electrical problem but gamely battled on and brought the bike home once again although down in 21st place.
Despite not adding to his score, Parkes maintains 20th overall in the 2014 MotoGP World Championship table, eighth in the Open class standings and third in Rookie of the Year. With his first DNF of the year, Laverty has yet to register on the scoreboard but importantly for the PBM team, they occupy fifth place in the manufacturer’s table and 11th in the team’s standings.
Michael Laverty: “We had such a strong weekend with a rather cruel ending. I unfortunately crashed out of the race whilst in the battle for points and running a strong pace which would have led to a 12th or 13th place finish. We made a smart call on the grid to switch to our dry bike sacrificing our 18th place grid spot, however this paid dividends as the majority of the field had to start from pit lane to change their bike. This allowed me to run as high as second in the opening laps. I ran a full dry set-up, including the hard front tyre which hindered me for quite a few laps as it was difficult to generate the required temperature due to the damp conditions. As the circuit dried I was getting stronger with every lap and set three personal best lap times prior to my crash. The crash was unexpected because I didn’t do anything different on that lap to previous laps, but these things happen when you’re pushing to the limit.”
Broc Parkes: “It’s been a hard weekend learning another difficult track and a big crash on Saturday whereby I lost my number one bike didn’t help. The start of the race was a gamble but I chose slicks which was the best choice but in the race we had a problem with the transponder. It caused problems with the bike on the track so all the electronics were playing up and being very inconsistent meaning I had no flow. I knew there was something not right but continued to push to the end of the race to take more track knowledge for the future.”
Phil Borley, Technical Director: “Sachsenring has been a weekend of positives and negatives. The positives have included Michael’s pace in both the practices and the race, showing our improved competitiveness. The negatives have been the crashes we have suffered and missing a good opportunity to score points. We now have to regroup and prepare for the second half of the season and keep pushing for better results.”
More, from a press release issued by KTM:
STRONG START TO FINISH WIN FOR RED BULL KTM AJO’S JACK MILLER
Red Bull KTM AJO factory rider Jack Miller was in determined form on the Sachsenring circuit on Sunday to take the victory in the Moto3 GP of Germany with a pole to finish win. South African Brad Binder challenged the Australian rider hard throughout the second half of the race and went on to finish second.
Miller, a Red Bull-sponsored athlete had secured his fifth pole position but was under pressure to do well after race incidents had kept him off the podium in the last round at Assen. He got away cleanly from the start, was first into the first corner and settled down to hold the lead throughout the 27-lap race on what is the shortest circuit on the World Championship calendar.
Miller’s win extends his lead in the World Championship, which he has held since the first race of the season in Qatar. It will be a relief to the Australian to add more points to his tally as other strong riders have been making inroads into his lead in the past two rounds. Spanish rider Alex Marquez, who was looking for his third consecutive Moto3 win shadowed Miller throughout the opening laps until Binder slipped into contention leaving Marquez to fight it out with three other riders, all vying for the third podium place.
Miller said it had been a tough race and that Binder had put pressure on him: “Brad (Binder) was very strong. From the first lap I could see he was going all out, braking like an animal and getting very close to me. It was very stressful and I had to push hard on the last two laps to try to pass me. It was very important to get these 25 points. Now we have to ride intelligently at the next few tracks.”
It was French rider Alex Masbou who finally claimed the third podium spot, finishing 0.9 seconds behind Binder who was just 0.180 seconds off Miller as the riders charged to the finish line.
The race was a battle of attrition that saw a number of Miller’s closest rivals fail to finish. Italian KTM rider Romano Fenati has been a race winner and a strong title contender during the nine rounds so far held this season. He started way back on twenty fifth-place on the grid and was steaming through the pack when he crashed out of eleventh place in lap five. Fenati’s DNF drops him from equal second to fourth place in the standings.
A total of eleven riders failed to finish the race on the tricky high-speed German circuit, including Marquez’s teammate Alex Rins, another of the title contenders. Miller’s factory teammate Karel Hanika, also a Red Bull-sponsored athlete had a second row start and rode a strong race with the following group until he crashed out with six laps to go. Both Miller and Hanika are riding the KTM RC 250GP machine.
Miller now goes into the mid season summer break with a 19-point lead in the championship. The competition now breaks until August 10 when the next round takes place at Indianapolis, USA.
Moto GP of Germany – Sachsenring Circuit – Round 9
Moto3 Results
1, Jack Miller, AUS, KTM, 39:26.927
2, Brad Binder, RSA, Mahindra, 39:27.107
3, Alexis Masbou, FRA, Honda, 39:28.046
4, Alex Marquez, ESP, Honda, 39:28.107
5, Danny Kent, GBR, Husqvarna, 39:28.217
6, Efren Vasquez, ESP, Honda, 39:53.158
7, John McPhee, GBR, Honda, 39:53.263
8, Isaac Viñales, ESP, KTM, 39:53.401
9, Matteo Ferrari, ITA, Mahindra, 39:53.510
10, Juanfran Guevara, ESP, Kalex KTM, 39:53.662
Other KTM
11, Jakub Kornfeil, CZE, KTM, 39:53.800
14, Eric Granado, BRA, KTM, 39:57.011
15, Enea Bastianini, ITA, KTM, 40:12.052
18, Hafiq Azmi, MAL, KTM, 40:13.037
DNF, Niccolo Antonelli, ITA, KTM, 35:25.864
DNF, Karel Hanika, CZE, KTM, 28:01.713
DNF, Livio Loi, BEL, KTM, 20:00.792
DNF, Romano Fenati, ITA, KTM, 4:26.703
DNS, Francesco Bagnaia, ITA, KTM
Moto3 Standings after Round 9
1, Miller, 142
2, Marquez, 123
3, Vazquez, 112
4, Fenati, 110
5, Alex Rins, ESP, Honda, 107
6, Viñales, 90
7, Masbou, 79
8, Miguel Oliveira, POR, Mahindra, 53
9, Binder, 49
10, Kornfeil, 48
Other KTM
11, Bastianini, 46
14, Bagnaia, 42
17, Antonelli, 18
18, Loi, 17
19, Hanika, 16
26, Granado, 2
Moto3 Manufacturers Standings after Round 9
1, KTM, 206
2, Honda, 178
3, Mahindra, 82
More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:
Nina Prinz happy with her home Grand Prix – but no joy for Wnthony West and Roman Ramos
QMMF Racing Team’s wild card entry Nina Prinz got cheers from ten thousands of German fans when she rode to 27th place in her first ever Grand Prix, leaving another rider behind her.
But apart from the happiness of “Princess Prinz”, there was no much joy for QMMF Racing Team at Sachsenring. Anthony West, who had arrived from the last GP at Assen with a milestone victory, struggled with a lack of rear tyre grip throughout the race. Even though he managed to recover some positions from his 25th place on the starting grid, he couldn’t do better than 17th and was bitterly disappointed to finish outside the point rankings.
Team-mate Roman Ramos suffered a similar fate. Even though he ended up winning an exciting battle against Switzerland’s Robin Mulhauser by mere fractions of a second, he also struggled with a lack of tyre grip and finished in 23rd position.
Anthony West – 17th place
“I’m not happy with myself and I am not happy with the bike. After our success at Assen I was confident that we would be able to get another good result here, but our reality in dry conditions is much different to what we experienced on the damp Assen track. I need to qualify better, so part of our poor result is my own fault. But the bike needs to change, too. It’s a battle just to ride it, let alone trying to battle with the others. I’m constantly fighting with a lack of grip and trying to make the bike turn. I am pretty sure why we have this problem and I hope there will be some changes in the future!”
Roman Ramos – 23rd place
“It was a difficult race. I had no rear grip throughout the race, which made it hard to ride and impossible to fight for a better position. It’s not pleasant to lose so much time in comparison to the front runners on such a short circuit. All we can do is to keep our heads down and work toward the next race where we will hopefully suffer less than we did today!”
Nina Prinz – 27th place
“I was lucky to find somebody else to battle with. I could watch his lines and I rode much faster than in qualifying, which felt good. My lap times were very consistent, only in the end I got confused when we got lapped and I lost one position. But all in all, I am very happy with my lap times and with the race. I enjoyed being here and riding in front of this fantastic crowd at Sachsenring and I want to thank QMMF again for giving me this opportunity. I will stay and continue to ride for them in Qatar and, who knows, I might have another chance to ride a Grand Prix in the future!”
More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:
AGT REA Racing continue to learn more about the 2014 Suter at the German GP
AGT REA Racing concluded the German Grand Prix with a better understanding of the 2014 Suter chassis. Gino Rea was knocking on the door of a top 20 Moto2 finish before mid-race problems caused him to fall back to 25th.
Gino Rea: “At the beginning of the race I felt good and got behind a group of riders including Lowes and West. There were a few areas where I was really strong and was getting held up, and there were other areas where I was losing a lot of time and having to push too hard.
“I had really good grip in the beginning but once the rear tyre dropped, I just couldn’t hold the pace. Our other issue was the balance of the bike as there’s a lot of weight on the front and it killed my left shoulder. This track is mainly left turns so the problem was exaggerated lap after lap. From mid race onwards, I was barely able to hold onto the left hand side of the bike.
“We have to look into maintaining a good pace throughout the whole race. The lap time I did in the group was not so bad but I just couldn’t maintain that for the whole race. We’ve still got a lot of work to do because last year on the FTR I went 0.6 seconds quicker than I did this year. A little of that is in tyres but also I’m still not comfortable on the bike. The setting we have at the moment is very difficult to ride so we’ll keep plugging away and hopefully we can make a step forward.”
Dave Peterson, Team Principal: “I’m happy with the team’s progress. We’re not making mistakes. We seem to be figuring it out slowly although the results don’t show that this weekend. We did figure out something major about the stiffness of the bike so being armed with that information going into Indy, I feel very positive that we can achieve a better result.”
The Moto2 class now enter their season’s summer break before returning to action on August 10th at the Indianapolis Motorway Speedway. An American team, AGT REA Racing look forward to making their second excursion to the U.S.A this year and especially to Indiana, the home state of their title sponsor, American Green Technology.
More, from a press release issued by Husqvarna:
SEASON’S BEST RIDE FOR DANNY KENT IN MOTO3
Husqvarna factory rider Danny Kent delivered another strong performance on the Sachsenring circuit at the Moto3GP of Germany on Sunday to herald an improvement in form for the British rider.
Kent, who has struggled in the first half of the season showed determination and much better form the entire race weekend. He was second fastest to eventual race winner Jack Miller in the combined free practice sessions and was fifth in Saturday’s qualifying, a session that was disrupted in the second half by rain.
On race day the British rider got away smoothly from the middle of the second row on the grid. He was in fourth place at the first corner and managed to avoid getting caught up in race incidents in the opening stages that saw a number of riders exit the race. While a battle for the lead ensued between Miller and at first with Alex Marquez, then later with Brad Binder of South Africa, Kent remained tucked into to the following group of three riders, oscillating between fourth and sixth place.
Going into the final stages of the 27-lap race it was clear that the win was going to be decided between Miller and Binder but as they rode a tight race out front, another battle ensued between the following four riders to see who could pick up the remaining podium place. With ten laps to go, Kent and Marquez, one of the real title contenders in 2014 were duking it out for third place while French rider Alex Masbou was also in the mix.
The battle for the remaining slot heated up in the final three laps. Kent, Masbou and Marquez fought it out but the Husqvarna rider finally had to settle for fifth place.
Kent’s performance here in Germany – his best so far this season, and also in Assen at the previous round, will be a confidence booster and proof that he has the machinery, speed and the skills to ride with the best riders in the class. He is competing on the Husqvarna FR 250 GP machine. It is Husqvarna’s first year of competition in the hard fought Moto3 World Championship.
Danny Kent: “It was definitely our best weekend of the season and our best race. We took a step forward at Assen and here we started from where we left off there. I’m definitely happy with how the weekend has gone and we were much closer to the winning rider at only one second behind. It’s also good for my confidence, because it shows I can be up at the front.”
Factory team boss Aki Ajo also confirmed he was happy with Kent this weekend. “He was fighting in the last laps, even to get the podium and I am happy that Danny is back,” Ajo said.
The competition now goes into the summer break and the next round is in Indianapolis, USA on August 10. Niklas Ajo, Kent’s colleague in the Husqvarna garage is expected to be back on the track for the Indianapolis round. He is currently at home in Finland recovering from a fractured ankle, incurred at the last round in Assen, NL.
Moto GP of Germany – Sachsenring Circuit – Round 9
Moto3 Results
1, Jack Miller, AUS, KTM, 39:26.927
2, Brad Binder, RSA, Mahindra, 39:27.107
3, Alexis Masbou, FRA, Honda, 39:28.046
4, Alex Marquez, ESP, Honda, 39:28.107
5, Danny Kent, GBR, Husqvarna, 39:28.217
Moto3 Standings after Round 9
1, Miller, 142
2, Marquez, 123
3, Vazquez, 112
4, Fenati, 110
5, Alex Rins, ESP, Honda, 107
…
12. Kent, 46 points