Simon Rues Over-Eagerness But Congratulates Deserving Elias

Pole and the best pace of the weekend weren’t guarantees of success for Mapfre Aspar’s  Julián Simón in Sepang. The Spaniard lost places on the start, completing the opening lap in seventh place. He knuckled down to make back positions, climbing back to third on lap five, although one lap later he came within a whisker of highsiding his bike on the back straight. Lap seven saw his fastest lap of the race with a 2’08.691, but once more he had to face adversity. A lost front end on lap eight ended any chance of a podium.  

21st Julián Simón:
“The most important thing right now is that I am unhurt from the crash. There will be another chance to fight for the win in Australia. I fought my heart out today; in the crash I hit the brakes very hard and dropped gears too late, closing up the front. There was nothing that I could do to prevent it. I had experienced a scare earlier on and I hadn’t got a good start, with an over-eagerness to make a comeback as a result. You learn from this and I hope that now it won’t happen again. I want to congratulate Toni on his title win, because he was strong all year and deserves the crown. We have to turn the page and look forward to next weekend and another chance to win a race.”