FIM Moto2 World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar April 6, 2012 Free Practice Three Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:00.479 2. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (KALEX), 2:00.519 3. Esteve RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 2:01.118 4. Scott REDDING, Great Britain (KALEX), 2:01.230 5. Claudio CORTI, Italy (KALEX), 2:01.291 6. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), 2:01.335 7. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SPEED UP), 2:01.348 8. Bradley SMITH, Great Britain (TECH 3), 2:01.395 9. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 2:01.487 10. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (SUTER), 2:01.508 11. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 2:01.555 12. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (KALEX), 2:01.619 13. Julian SIMON, Spain (FTR), 2:01.743 14. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (MORIWAKI), 2:01.978 15. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:02.012 16. Johann ZARCO, France (MOTOBI), 2:02.059 17. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (SPEED UP), 2:02.067 18. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 2:02.160 19. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 2:02.227 20. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (SUTER), 2:02.285 21. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (AJR), 2:02.317 22. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (SUTER), 2:02.326 23. Toni ELIAS, Spain (SUTER), 2:02.387 24. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), 2:02.557 25. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), 2:02.742 26. Angel RODRIGUEZ, Spain (FTR), 2:02.998 27. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 2:03.074 28. Gino REA, Great Britain (MORIWAKI), 2:03.346 29. Alexander LUNDH, Sweden (MZ FTR), 2:04.522 30. Marco COLANDREA, Switzerland (FTR), 2:04.640 31. Anthony WEST, Australia (MORIWAKI), 2:04.798 32. Elena ROSELL, Spain (MORIWAKI), 2:05.714 33. Nasser Hasan AL MALKI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), 2:06.752 More, from a press release issued by Speed Master: BUSY NIGHT UNDER THE FLOODLIGHTS OF LOSAIL FOR SPEED MASTER RIDERS Today the riders of the Moto2 class got out on the track of Losail for the third free practice of the Grand Prix of Qatar. Today’s session was essential for Iannone and his crew, in order to prepare the setting for the qualifying session of tomorrow. The rider from Vasto focused on various combinations for the setting, gathering important data that will be analized by Andrea and his crew chief. Also Di Meglio and his technicians decided to direct their work mostly on the set-up of the Speed Up machine, trying out the modifications that were thought at the end of the sessions on Friday. Mike worked as well on the choice of tyres, testing their durability. Andrea Iannone #29 – 7th with 2’01.348 “Our bike is new and it’s growing session after session, we chose a special way and now we are working to find out what is the right direction to take. We are learning and gathering experience, for now I’m quite calm: with the team we are focusing on the weak points of the Speed Up machine. We understood where some of our problems come from and we improved after yesterday: we’ll do our best to sort everything out and prove our competitivity. We’ll try to be all set for the qualifying session of tomorrow, because we really want to be fast. I’d like to thank the whole team for their commitment.” Mike di Meglio #63″”17th with 2’02.067 “Today we ended the session a little bit far from the fast guys. Yesterday the day went perfectly, whereas in this practice we didn’t really manage to improve. However, we understood many things of the bike and, after all, I set my best lap time on tyres that we used for 25 laps. Tomorrow we have the base to do well, let’s wait for the beginning of qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: Doha, Qatar – 6 April 2012: The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding improved both his lap time and his position in tonight’s final free practice session ahead of the Grand Prix of Qatar, finishing 4th fastest and less than a second off Tom Lüthi’s fastest lap. Mika Kallio was 19th fastest, after losing most of the session to a mechanical issue. Redding and his crew made a number of changes to the set-up of his Kalex Moto2 machine today, to reduce the front end chatter that the 19-year-old British rider experienced during the two free practice sessions yesterday. The changes allowed Redding to push his way into fourth on the timesheet, but the Marc VDS rider is confident of further improvement ahead of tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session. Mika Kallio looked all set to continue the form that saw him set the sixth fastest time yesterday, but a change of set-up on his Kalex Moto2 machine didn’t deliver the improvements expected. The Finn lost time as the change was reversed, returning to track only at the end of the session and running straight into traffic on his remaining laps. Redding and Kallio both go into tomorrow night’s qualifying session confident they can secure a starting position on the front two rows of the grid for Sunday’s season opening race. Scott Redding #45: 4th – 2’01.230 “The main focus today was to try and get rid of the front-end chatter we had yesterday. We made some changes to the bike during the session and it was better, but I think there’s definitely more improvements to be found when we go through the data tonight. Even with the chatter I was able to push on and set the fourth quickest time tonight, but I guess everyone is going to be pushing harder tomorrow. If we can make even a small improvement to the bike for qualifying then I’m pretty sure that I can put the bike on the front two rows of the grid.” Mika Kallio #36: 19th – 2’02.227 “We decided to shorten the gearing for tonight, to give us better drive out of some of the turns, but we had to lengthen the wheelbase to do this. While the shorter gearing was good, the longer bike lacked any feeling from the front and we had no option but to switch back. Unfortunately, this took some time and I only got back out right at the end and immediately hit problems with traffic. So, we lost almost a whole session, but at the moment I’m not too concerned. If I can find a good rhythm in qualifying tomorrow, and steer clear of the traffic, then I’m confident we can still qualify towards the front of the grid for Sunday’s race.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “Scott did the best with what he had tonight, overcoming the chatter problems to finish fourth fastest overall. We made some improvements to the bike yesterday, but we need to reduce the chatter further if Scott is to realise his full potential in qualifying tomorrow. Mika was unlucky today. The gearing change didn’t work exactly as expected and then the mechanics hit a problem changing it back during the session. It meant that Mika missed most of the practice and only returned to the track when the traffic was at its heaviest. We have some work to do tonight, but I’m confident that both riders can qualify top six tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2: ANOTHER TOUGH DAY FOR REA Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 rider Gino Rea suffered another disappointing evening under the floodlights of Losail tonight, as he struggled to find a comfortable set-up on his Moriwaki. Tomorrow night’s qualifying session will be crucial to his hopes of targeting a positive finish on Sunday. Gino Rea (28° 2′ 03″ 346) “It was better than yesterday because at least we didn’t crash and we had more track time to work on our problems. Unfortunately we didn’t find a solution yet, the bike is so unstable and there is so much movement. We spent the whole session on used tyres because at the moment we don’t need a lap time, we need a set-up, but even on my fastest lap the problem was the worst it’s been. We are a little bit stuck and we need to try something big tomorrow because we’re a still a long way from where we should be. We’ll have a look at the data and see what we can come up with tomorrow because we need to qualify a lot higher up, that’s for sure.” Fausto Gresini “It is a strange situation because we still haven’t even found the right way forward. We need to work hard because it is not right for us to be this far back and I am sure that as soon as we give Gino the bike he needs he will quickly make up a lot of positions.” More, from a press release issued by Team Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2: SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT FROM WILAIROT Despite suffering a crash that thankfully resulted in very little damage to both bike and rider, Team Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Rattapark Wilairot was able to make improvements on his pace from yesterday and moved up the order as a result in tonight’s Moto2 free practice. There is still a lot of work to do but the signs are there that he can have a good qualifying session tomorrow night and even better race on Sunday. Ratthapark Wilairot (14° 2′ 01″ 978) “Today we had a better bike than yesterday. We tried a lot of things on the front and rear as well as a different sprocket, which gave me more confidence with the bike. I was braking too hard at the beginning, pushed the front too much and crashed but after that we changed the bike like I said, went out again with a new tyre and I felt better. The gap to the top is only 1.5 seconds now so we need to keep working like this again tomorrow.” Fausto Gresini “Feem has improved on yesterday although he still has a lot of work to do. The changes we made to the bike helped him take a qualitative step and we’re on the right lines now but it is important we keep going in the same way. He had a little crash, which didn’t help, but we just need to keep improving like this in every session.”