FIM Moto2 World Championship
Brno, Czech Republic
August 16, 2014
Qualifying Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires):
1. Esteve “Tito” RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 2:01.911, New Circuit Best Lap Record
2. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:02.143
3. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (KALEX), 2:02.307
4. Sam LOWES, UK (SPEED UP), 2:02.322
5. Simone CORSI, Italy (KALEX), 2:02.514
6. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 2:02.517
7. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:02.528
8. Marcel SCHROTTER, Germany (TECH 3), 2:02.684
9. Jonas FOLGER, Germany (KALEX), 2:02.846
10. Franco MORBIDELLI, Italy (KALEX), 2:02.888
11. Julian SIMON, Spain (KALEX), 2:02.961
12. Johann ZARCO, France (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:03.095
13. Mattia PASINI, Italy (KALEX), 2:03.097
14. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.214
15. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.216
16. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (TECH 3), 2:03.370
17. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.414
18. Louis ROSSI, France (KALEX), 2:03.441
19. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 2:03.482
20. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (SUTER), 2:03.494
21. Hafizh SYAHRIN, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:03.548
22. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 2:03.584
23. Lucas MAHIAS, France (TRANSFIORMERS), 2:03.824
24. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, Italy (SUTER), 2:03.873
25. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:03.887
26. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (SUTER), 2:03.990
27. Gino REA, UK (SUTER), 2:04.016
28. Anthony WEST, Australia (SPEED UP), 2:04.076
29. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 2:04.208
30. Robin MULHAUSER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:04.449
31. Roman RAMOS, Spain (SPEED UP), 2:04.557
32. Azlan SHAH, Malaysia (KALEX), 2:04.798
33. Josh HERRIN, USA (CATERHAM SUTER), 2:04.867
34. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA, Japan (TSR), 2:04.897
35. Miroslav POPOV, Czech (SUTER), 2:05.210
36. Thitipong WAROKORN, Thailand (KALEX), 2:05.827
More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:
Pole and circuit record for Rabat in Brno
Brno, Czech Republic – 16 August 2014: Tito Rabat will start from pole position for the seventh time this season in tomorrow’s Moto2 Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, after setting a new outright circuit record in qualifying this afternoon.
Mika Kallio will start tomorrow from the sixth position on the second row of the grid, after walking away uninjured from a crash in the final minute of qualifying.
Rabat has been the rider on form this weekend, topping the timesheet in two of the three free practice sessions here in Brno. The 25-year-old Spaniard goes into tomorrow’s race determined to reassert his authority on the championship that he has led since the opening round in Qatar.
Fast in the final free practice session this morning, Kallio was caught out by a change in track conditions this afternoon, with more grip inducing front end chatter. Changes to the balance of the bike brought improvements, but the 31-year-old Finn crashed out of qualifying uninjured when on a lap that would have put him on the front row.
After improving significantly to finish this morning’s final Moto3 free practice session in eighth position, Jorge Navarro was disappointed to qualifying only 19th for tomorrow’s 19-lap Moto3 race at Brno. However, the 18-year-old Spaniard remains confident of a good result.
Tito Rabat // Pole Position // 2’01.911
“I’m happy with pole and also the circuit record, because we’ve worked hard as a team for this over the weekend. The last three races haven’t worked out how I was expecting, so I need to bounce back here in Brno and rediscover my early season form once again. We still have some work to do here, but what is important is the race tomorrow. We need to see what the weather does, but the aim is to get a good start, fight with the other riders and come away from here with a good result tomorrow afternoon.”
Mika Kallio // 6th // 2’02.517
“It wasn’t so easy to improve the lap time in qualifying. From the first lap I could feel that the conditions had changed since the morning, with a lot of chatter from the front because there was more grip available. We made changes to the bike that brought some improvement, but they also caused the crash at the end of the session. I was pushing hard for the front row when the front bottomed out with no warning and down I went. We need to sort this out for tomorrow, because the problem will be worse with full fuel load at the start of the race. I believe we don’t need to be too worried for the race, but ideally we need to find a something so I can be a little bit more relaxed on the bike at race pace. We also need to decide which tyre to use; not easy, as both options have their advantages and disadvantages.”
Jorge Navarro // 19th // 2’09.004
“I’m not happy after today’s qualifying, especially after this morning’s final free practice session where the changes we made to the bike increased both my confidence and my pace. The start of qualifying was good and I was running in 11th position, but then it started raining and a lot of riders were slowing on track, which meant I couldn’t make one good lap, while other riders obviously did. Finally I ended 19th, but my feeling with the bike is good and tomorrow I think I can do a good race.”
More, from a press release issued by AGT Rea Racing:
Moto2 Qualifying: AGT REA Racing struggle with set up at Brno
AGT REA Racing qualified in 27th position for the Brno Grand Prix on Saturday, having struggled with bike set up all weekend.
Gino Rea: “Again I feel disappointed with the final position because I know I’m capable of much higher. We struggled this morning with set up and again in the start of qualifying. Luckily we made a change at the end of the session and improved my laptime but not my position. I had hoped to move into the top 20 but things just didn’t go right for us today so we’ll keep working and hope for better tomorrow.”
AGT REA Racing will line up for the bwin Grand Prix Ceske republiky on Sunday at 12.20pm local time. The team can be followed on their Facebook www.facebook.com/AGTREARACING and Twitter @AGT_REA_RACING for live updates.
More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:
Ramos improves and aims at Top 20 – West continues to struggle
QMMF Racing Team riders Roman Ramos and Anthony West ended qualifying for the Czech Grand Prix in Brno with mixed emotions.
Ramos improved by a full two seconds in comparison to the first day of practice on the challenging 5.4 kilometre Brno circuit and was happy with his achievements. Since he did his best time all by himself without being aided by another rider’s slipstream, he is confident to be able to go faster again in the race and to be able to fight for a Top 20 position.
West battled through a difficult day in which he wasn’t able to get the best out of his bike and to get closer towards the front of the grid. Despite being bitterly disappointed, he hasn’t given up hope and continued to work with his technicians looking for solutions that will turn his luck around in the race.
Anthony West – 28th in 2.04,076
“We are far away from where I expected to be after our Top Ten result one week ago at Indianapolis and we seem to be going in circles instead of making real progress. I just don’t have the right feeling with the bike, which partly has to do with some set-up issues and to another part with the track itself, which is not one of my favorites. All I can say is that we will continue to work and try to find solutions for the race, because despite our problems, I’d really like to score at least a decent result!”
Roman Ramos – 31st in 2.04,557
“Yesterday things didn’t go well at all, so we made a big change without knowing if it would work out and improve the bike. But in the first session of today this morning, I immediately noticed that the bike behaved much better than before. I had a much better feeling with the bike and my lap times dropped considerably. We left the bike the way it was for qualifying, because we knew I would be able to do a good lap time. And indeed, we went faster again, with a difference of a full two seconds to yesterday. We are still down in 31st place, but we have the pace to make up some positions and fight within the Top 20. The only thing I missed out on in qualifying was someone to follow and take advantage of some slipstream. I did the time all by myself, which is, despite my grid position, an achievement I am happy about!”
More, from a press release issued by AirAsia Caterham Moto2 Team:
Brno GP Qualifying Report
Circuit: Automotodrom Brno
Circuit Length: 5.403 m
Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco
FP3: P13; 2’03.591 – 19 laps
Qualifying: P12; 2’03.095 – 14 laps
Bike # 2 – Josh Herrin
FP3: P28; 2’05.139 – 17 laps
Qualifying: P33; 2’04.867 – 17 laps
Weather
FP3: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 17°, (track temp) 22°
Qualifying: (Conditions) Dry; (air temp) 20°, (track temp) 36°
Following a positive start to their Czech Grand Prix, AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team headed out into Free Practice Three with high hopes.
Johann Zarco struggled to adjust to initial set-up changes but following his technical feedback the crew worked hard to improve the #5 Caterham Suter, allowing the Frenchman to regain his good feeling on the bike and improve his time.
Team mate Josh Herrin had a difficult day two at the Czech circuit improving in time but not position.
#5 Johann Zarco: “Twelfth position is not what I expect but we had problems in Free Practice Three. At first I was not far off but the bike was too hard to ride.
“We made a new step in Sachsenring with the chassis which was good but we have struggled a bit here where we need corner speed to be easy on the bike.
After speaking with the mechanics and technical side we made a big change in Qualifying and finally it felt better. Unfortunately it was quite late into the session and there were only six minutes left so I only did one lap, but I think it’s better late than never.
“Tomorrow is another day and now I hope that we can take a new step in the morning that it is more comfortable on the bike for my riding. If it’s dry we will have another practice to get confident with this almost new bike. In the race it’s a good track that I like and not everybody will ride with the lap time that they did today for twenty laps, so I hope to be constant with good pace and I will fight throughout.”
#2 Josh Herrin: “Today was really difficult. We will keep working hard to understand what the problem is and try to fix it.
“I hope that in the Warm Up I can find my confidence with the bike.
“The pace is going to be very difficult but I will do my best to get a good result.”
Team Manager – Johan Stigefelt: “The weekend hasn’t gone as we had hoped for and it should have been better but we have tried a couple of new things here.
“We made some changes on Johann’s bike that we have been thinking about for a long time but unfortunately they haven’t worked like we had hoped for .It wasn’t the right direction for us and now we know, we can eliminate this and go in the other direction.
“What we did with Johann in the Qualifying was that we went back and made some changes which were better and it felt good for him to ride again, so I’m pleased with this. It’s good for him and for the team as the guys have worked really hard to improve it.
“It’s absolutely not over for us here. We are twelfth on the grid and many things can happen so we will see tomorrow and we will fight hard. I hope that we can improve the bike again in the morning and then for him to go forward in the race.
“For Josh it’s been a very complicated weekend, which we thought would be the case because it is not an easy track to learn and go fast on quickly, but that’s the way it’s been and now we need to see what we do here. This track is not easy but he needs to work hard and finish the race as strong as he can.”