FIM Moto2 World Championship Le Mans, France May 15 Race Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 26 laps, 43:03.308 2. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (MORIWAKI), -1.982 seconds 3. Stefan BRADL, Germany (KALEX), -2.237 4. Julian SIMON, Spain (SUTER), -2.349 5. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), -2.609 6. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (PONS KALEX), -12.295 7. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), -18.739 8. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), -18.918 9. Bradley SMITH, Great Britain (TECH 3), -20.408 10. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (MOTOBI), -20.566 11. Jules CLUZEL, France (SUTER), -23.225 12. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), -23.359 13. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (FTR), -23.676 14. Michele PIRRO, Italy (MORIWAKI), -24.756 15. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (MZ-RE HONDA), -25.063 16. Scott REDDING, Great Britain (SUTER), -29.587 17. Kenny NOYES, USA (FTR), -32.803 18. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), -32.997 19. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (MORIWAKI), -33.273 20. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), -34.837 21. Esteve RABAT, Spain (FTR), -35.765 22. Claudio CORTI, Italy (SUTER), -41.502 23. Mattia PASINI, Italy (FTR), -49.702 24. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (FTR), -50.198 25. Anthony WEST, Australia (MZ-RE HONDA), -50.789 26. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (SUTER), -51.362 27. Kev COGHLAN, Great Britain (FTR), -51.471 28. Valentin DEBISE, France (FTR), -61.904 29. Javier FORES, Spain (SUTER), -74.039 30. Robertino PIETRI, Venezuela (SUTER), -74.338 31. Mashel AL NAIMI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), -88.827 32. Alexander CUDLIN, Australia (MORIWAKI), -89.889 33. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (TECH 3), -2 laps, DNF, crash 34. Axel PONS, Spain (PONS KALEX), -3 laps, DNF, crash 35. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (MORIWAKI), -7 laps, DNF, crash 36. Steven ODENDAAL, South Africa (SUTER), -12 laps, DNF, retired 37. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (SUTER), -15 laps, DNF, crash 38. Mika KALLIO, Finland (SUTER), -22 laps, DNF, retired 39. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SUTER), -26 laps, DNF, crash 40. Santiago HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), -26 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 4 of 17 races): 1. Bradl, 77 points 2. Simon, 49 points 3. Iannone, 48 points 4. TIE, Takahashi/Luthi, 47 points 6. Corsi, 46 points 7. De Angelis, 32 points 8. Smith, 27 points 9. Marquez, 25 points 10. Aegerter, 24 points More, from a press release issued by JiR Moto2 Team: French Grand Prix, race: De Angelis finishes in 10th The Moto2 class once more lived up to its reputation as a balanced championship as the top spot on the podium was taken for the first time by the young Spaniard Marc Maquez. The reigning champion in the 125 class won the race in a group of five riders that battled throughout the race. After frequent exchanges of position the Spaniard took the win followed by Yuki Takahashi and Stefan Bradl. Team JiR’s Alex De Angelis made a good start managing to break away from the first group at the first turn he then defended his position but remained attached to pack behind. The JiR Team rider took into the race some new technical developments which had not even been tried in the warm-up and these gave positive feedback during the race. The result of the French race has truly mixed up the world rankings, with the German Bradl (77 points) consolidating his leadership as he takes advantage of the crash of Andrea Iannone (48 points), who in turn loses second place in favor of Spaniard Julian Simon (49 points), who took a good fourth in the race at Le Mans. Seventh place in the series is now with Alex De Angelis (32 points), who can now aim for the man ahead, Simone Corsi who has 46 points. Alex DeAngelis Unfortunately the day had a bad start and in the race I had to manage the situation rather than try to attack. This morning in warm-up we had an issue with the rear tyre, which made us miss the chance to try the solutions that we thought could remedy the problems found yesterday. We decided to try these innovations because on paper they appeared to be effective and actually our MotoBI was better. Unfortunately, we suffered from a performance gap that we had already pointed out yesterday and Friday, on which we will need to concentrate to be more competitive in the future. This has taken away the possibility of finding a place in the main train of riders who fought for the podium, but 10th place gives me some points. More, from a press release issued by Tech 3: Smith and di Meglio thrill French fans in Le Mans Bradley Smith and Mike di Meglio produced trilling Moto2 performances in the Tech 3 Racing Team’s home race at the legendary Le Mans circuit today. British rider Smith stormed to his third top ten finish in four races after he produced a gutsy ride in the 26-lap race, while di Meglio was unfortunate to see his amazing top ten challenge ended by a late crash. Smith made a fantastic start and a series of superbly crafted overtakes saw the 20-year-old claim nine places on the opening lap. Smith was then locked in a close and exciting eight-rider battle involving eventual winner Marc Marquez in the early laps. Once at the front of the pack, Smith brillia ntly capitalised on clear track in front of him to begin an impressive surge away from the chasing group, which included fellow British rider Scott Redding and pre-season Moto2 title favourite Alex de Angelis. He was also able to comfortably pull away from circuit specialist Jules Cluzel, despite riding with heavy strapping on his right ankle after he was taken down in an incident involving Axel Pons in the final stages of yesterday’s qualifying session. He lost a richly deserved eighth place just three laps from the end when Dominique Aegerter passed, but Smith rode a stunning last lap to fend of a dogged challenge from de Angelis. Home favourite Mike di Meglio produced one of the performances of the race, the French rider producing a masterful exhibition of overtaking to fight his way through from 27th on the grid to the brink of the top ten in just 12 laps. His surge through the field had his home fans captiv ated but as he launched a late challenge to claim a second successive top ten finish, di Meglio crashed out on the penultimate lap. Bradley Smith 9th 27 points “After the crash in qualifying I was in quite a lot of discomfort last night. My right ankle took quite a big hit and I had to ride with it heavily strapped so there wasn’t much movement and that gave me the support I needed. I had an unbelievable start and really committed myself at the first corner. I made up a lot of places and it was a good fight. Once I got to the front of the group I didn’t find it too hard to pull away from Cluzel. The bike was working great and it was a shame I just couldn’t hang onto eighth. I upped my pace at the end but Aegerter and de Angelis definitely had something extra in the last couple of laps. My tyre hadn’t dropped off and I was doing the same lap tim es, but they just went much quicker. Aegerter passed me and I couldn’t stay with him but I’m pleased to have kept Alex at bay because he is a very fast rider. The big positive is that I’m only 20 seconds behind the race winner and that’s the closest I’ve been all season. And my time on the last lap was only 0.3s away from my best. That shows I’ve got the pace but also the consistency.” Mike di Meglio DNF 7 points “Of course I am not happy about the crash at the end. I made a little mistake when I passed Cluzel and the front closed and I crashed. Apart from that I think I had a great race. We were really fast and after starting from 27th I was in the group fighting for 10th position halfway through, so I am happy about that. If we find a solution for my qualifying issues I am confident that I can be stronger in the race. I will work and train in the break now and hope that I can pay my team back for all their hard work with a good result at the next race in Catalunya.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “This was not an easy race to watch for a Team Manager, but I hope the French fans were entertained by the Tech 3 Racing Team today. Bradley had a really good start and made his way through the group quickly and he had a consistent pace. So if the qualifying goes better in the future I have no doubt he can be fighting with the front group. It is his first season in this class and after four races he is already eighth in the Championship and I am very happy about that. With the problems from yesterday and the pain in the foot from the crash, Bradley did a fantastic job. It is a pity that Mike crashed as he rode an incredibly strong race. He had to start from 27th on the grid, which is not easy, but he managed to get his way through to fight for a to p 10 finish as well. Unfortunately he made a mistake and crashed when he was pushing hard for a top ten, which he really deserved. But he was very fast during the race and I am happy that he showed his potential once again.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3: Xavier Siméon’s progress continues in Le Mans Xavier Siméon rode a encouraging race today at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans, France where he finished in 18th position after starting from 31st spot on the grid. Siméon had once again a difficult qualifying, but his final position in the race shows the progress he and his team made since Estoril two weeks ago. The young Belgian gains more confidence every time he is on the bike as his rhythm is getting better and better, but a top 15 is yet to come. Xavier Siméon, 18th position: “I am happy that I was able to finish 18th after starting from 31st. Still I hope that we can qualify better in the futur e so I have a better base to finish the races more in front. I know we have the pace and the potential for Top 15 results and I am happy with the progress we made since the start of the season and I really want to thank my team for their hard work and support they give me. We just need to find that extra bit that takes us to a better starting position. We will work on that in Catalunya.” Hervé Poncharal – Team Manager: “Xavier made a good progress since the start of the season and I am happy about that. Still it is tough to catch all the positions when you have to start from so far behind on the grid. His pace is good and he found a good rhythm, so I just hope that he will continue in this direction and show us what he can do when he has a better position for the start of the race. I think he can be in the points at the next race in Catalunya.” More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing: POINTS ELUDE MARC VDS RACING TEAM AT LE MANS The Marc VDS Racing Team’s quest to score its first Moto2 World Championship points of the 2011 campaign was thwarted at the end of a difficult French Grand Prix at the historic Le Mans circuit. British rider Scott Redding was unable to take full advantage of his season best fifth position on the grid and he finished just outside the points in 16th position. And teammate Mika Kallio’s luck deserted him again, as a clutch problem forced him to retire with only four of the 26-laps completed. Redding looked on course to fight for a top eight finish after he produced a spirited ride in the opening half of the 26-lap race. The 18-year-old had just forced his way back into the top ten and was poised to mount a challenge to compatriot Bradley Smith and Jules Cluzel when he suddenly started to lose grip with his rear tyre. Heavy cloud cover meant air temperatures only reached 15 degrees today – the lowest of the entire weekend. The cooler conditions saw Redding opt to race with the softer compound Dunlop rear tyre. But unable to push with the same level of confidence he had demonstrated superbly yesterday to qualify his Suter MMX1 machine on the second row, Redding dropped out of the points after a mistake in the braking zone for Turn 6 on the 11th lap. A combination of the tyre choice and a gearshift problem prevented Redding from recovering the lost places. Kallio’s race came to a disappointing conclusion in the early stages, the Finnish rider’s fate effectively sealed before the 26-lap race had commenced as he encountered a clutch problem on the sighting lap. Starting from 23rd on the grid, Kallio immediately went into attack mode to try and force his way into the top 20. But the clutch problem continued and unable to get any drive exiting corners, he had no option but to retire. Scott Redding #45 Race Position 16th “Considering I qualified in fifth position and felt really confident and comfortable on the bike, to finish with no points again is pretty disappointing. It was much cooler today so we decided to put the soft compound tyre in and it was probably the wrong choice. It worked fine for the first five laps but then I had some spinning issues. Coming out of Turn 3 I was having big movement from the rear. I also had trouble with the quickshifter. It wouldn’t engage a gear and it was jumping out of third. It was a real problem coming out of Turn 4 because you’re on the edge of the tyre and trying to select a gear meant I was constantly fighting with the bike for the whole of the race. Those little problems made it difficult to stay with the group I was in and trying to make up some time I ran wide on the brakes at Turn 6 on lap 11. The whole weekend had gone really good and I expected a much better result. I’ll try and put this disappointing start to the season behind me in Catalunya and try and get a result the Marc VDS Racing Team deserves.” Mika Kallio #36 Race Position DNF “My race was over before it had even really started and that is disappointing. I had a clutch problem in the first practice, so to have the same problem for the race is frustrating. As soon as I rode out for the sighting lap I knew there was a problem and once the race started I couldn’t exit the corners with any power. You can clearly see on the data that there was a problem, so we’ll have to check what caused the issue. I had no choice but to retire and that’s a shame because I’m convinced I could have fought my way into the points today. This is another race where I’ve not scored any points, but I’ll go to the next race in Catalunya 100 per cent focussed and determined to get my season up and running.” Michael Bartholemy – Team Manager “We can’t hide the fact that this is another race in which the Marc VDS Racing Team has scored no points and once again that is incredibly disappointing. It is unbelievable to think after four races of the season that we are in this position and it is simple, the results have to get better immediately. We were obviously expecting Scott to be fighting for a top result today. He didn’t make the best start but he was quickly able to fight his way back into the top 10 and we were optimistic that he could score our first points of the season. He couldn’t maintain his pace though and we have to analyse why. He had some problems with the quickshifter and this is a part that is normally bulletproof, so we’ll have to check exactly what happened. Mika had no chance to show his potential in the race because of a clutch problem. That is the second time this weekend he’s had this issue, so we need to investigate what is the problem because that is disappointing. The entire Marc VDS Racing Team remains motivated and confident that we can get the results a team of our stature should be achieving, starting at the next race in Catalunya.” More, from a press release issued by Kenny Noyes’ publicist: New Hope For Kenny Noyes After Race-Day Breakthrough After a day full of frustration on Saturday, Kenny Noyes’ weekend was turned completely around on race day. A lack of confidence in the front end of his FOGI-Racing FTR saw the American qualify in lowly 34th position. But thanks to the hard work of his Avintia-STX team and the advice of the FTR technicians, radical geometry changes transformed Kenny’s FTR Moto2 machine on Sunday, and Noyes was finally able to ride with confidence. The transformation was immediately apparent during the morning warm up, when Kenny set the 12th fastest time, taking four tenths off his fastest lap of the weekend. Starting back on the 12th row left the Avintia-STX rider an awful lot of work to do in the race, but with confidence restored in the front end of his FOGI-Racing FTR, Noyes was able to pass the riders ahead of him with relative ease. Kenny made up an astonishing 17 places during the race, crossing the line in a respectable 17th position, and within sight of the points. More importantly, the radical changes made by his Avintia-STX team and the FTR engineers mean that Kenny leaves Le Mans with a working base setup, something that the American has lacked all year. The American’s fastest race lap was nearly a full second faster than his best qualifying time, and puts him firmly where he needs to be to start scoring points. Kenny and his Avintia-STX team now head back home, and then on to a two-day test at Aragon. There, Kenny, the team and the FTR engineers will work on fine-tuning his base setup ready for the next round of the Moto2 World Championship at Barcelona, near to Kenny’s second home in Spain. With the breakthrough the team have made in France, Kenny goes into Barcelona expecting to come away with some serious points. 17th, Fastest Lap: 1’39.387 Kenny said, “I’m so stoked about the way things went in France! We found a base setup, turned the bike around and I had a really fun race, and got a chance to do some passing!” “On Saturday things were really difficult and we were way off the pace, as I was tucking the front everywhere. But after qualifying, the guys from FTR came over, took the bike apart and made a radical change. When I took the bike out in warm up, it felt like a completely different bike. It was like night and day.” “I knew I had to be real patient in the first laps and push my way forward. I had some great battles, including with my teammate, which is the first time that’s happened all year. I even managed to catch Simeon and pass him on the last corner, and that felt great.” “Now I can’t wait to get to Aragon to work with my team on this setup. Once we get to Barcelona, I’m going to be back racing at the sharp end again, and I love that feeling!” More, from a press release issued by Italtrans Moto2 Team: Grand Prix of France Le Mans, May 15th, 2011 Race report Quite a difficult weekend. The team has not been able to reap the fruit of their’s labor. To get it, has scheduled a second private test, after the one carried on in Portugal, ten days ago. Italtrans will test again in the next days, before the GP of Catalunya. Claudio Corti (1’39″570 22nd): “We have not been able to find a good setup. Moreover, I did a bad start and, catching up, I and a fellow competitor bounced into each other. Maybe a better result was possible, but we started too back on the grid”. Robertino Pietri (1’40″659 33rd) “I did a good start but, on the very first lap, at turn six I had a problem with a rider we touched and almost immediately after, at turn twelve, another one crashed in front of me. I avoid him, but was forced to go out on the dirt. I rejoined the race, but it was an uphill GP, from that moment on”. Claudio Macciotta (Technical Director): “Unfortunately, the job didn’t pay. In a last attempt, Saturday night we decided to change weight balance and rear shock absorber. Unfortunately, we did not get the expected result, and had to changed again”. Luigi Pansera (Team Manager) “I believe there must be a careful consideration from both riders and team. We must analyze any aspect to understand what is wrong”. More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR MOTO CONTINUES CONSISTENCY WITH CORSI IN FRANCE FTR MOTO earned more points in the Moto2 World Championship as the IODA Project Team’s Simon Corsi continued his impressive start to the 2011 season with another top 10 finish in Sunday’s fourth round at Le Mans in France. The Italian rider took seventh place in the 26-lap race at the 2.599-mile circuit and now sits in sixth place in the World Championship after four of 17 rounds. Pol Espargaro, on the HP Tuenti Speed Up Team machine, was again in the points as the promosing Spaniard took 13th place on his FTR M211 while Max Neukirchner earned the final World Championship point as the German took 15th place on his MZ-FTR machine. Kenny Noyes, riding the FOGI Racing/GP Tech-backed FTR M211, was an agonising 17th in Sunday’s race, just two places and less than eight seconds away from his first World Championship points of the year. Blusens STX rider Yonny Hernandez completed the top 20 in Sunday’s race while his team-mate Esteve Rabat was one place further back in 21st place in a race with 40 starters. Mattia Pasini Corsi’s IODA Project FTR team-mate was 23rd, Ratthapark Wilairot 24th on the Thai Honda Singa SAG machine with youngsters Kev Coghlan and Valentin Debise 27th and 28th respectively. “That was probably our toughest round yet in 2011,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “We are working with a lot of new teams this year and about seven or eight of the riders are new to the Championship. “We’ve been looking forward to some serious testing with the teams to try the development parts we’ve prepared and I’m really pleased we’ll now have that opportunity before the next World Championship round in Barcelona.”