Simon’s qualifying session hampered by “silly issue”, Forés unhappy with 26th position

 In Moto2, News

The Moto2 category for the Spanish Grand Prix will start in a similar manner to the season opener –something that had seemed unlikely on Friday. If things were even on day one, in qualifying some of the stronger riders came to the fore. Stefan Bradl took pole, but may find it hard to break away from the pack at the twisty Jerez circuit.

MAPFRE Aspar rider Julián Simón showed his tenacity in the face of adversity in qualifying. He had recorded the fifth fastest time in morning practice, and all signs pointed to a front row start for Sunday’s race. Unfortunately things didn’t turn out that way, and a fault with his front wheelguard occupied half an hour of valuable minutes. By the time the issue had been resolved, there were only ten minutes left on the clock and little chance of a recovery. Simón gritted his teeth and pulled himself up to tenth for Sunday’s start at his home round. He has hopes of salvaging a strong result at Jerez.

Xavi Flores had similar problems, after having an excellent time of things in the practice sessions. In qualifying he lost confidence with the front end of his machine, and could only manage to place 26th.

10th Julián Simón 1.43.766 (18 laps): “The qualifying session was tough for us. I had an unexpected problem, a silly issue really. The wheel guard had broken and was touching the front wheel whenever I hit the brakes heavily. That didn’t allow me to take the corners well. With ten minutes to go, we changed it –although that only allowed me to undertake three laps. The first was a fast lap, but the other two weren’t so good. Not knowing what was going on made me lose confidence, and thus I lacked pace in the session. Without this, we could have been amongst the top five with ease. In any case, tenth isn’t that bad and the problem today was an isolated incident. I’m not too worried and I think that we can come back through the field. Bradl is looking strong, but these are the opening races and things will even out.”

26th Xavi Forés 1.44.692 (19 laps): “It was a pity that the qualifying sesión didn’t go as we had intended. The same thing is happening to us that occurred in Qatar; in practice I feel good, but at the key moment things go against us. It was very hard for us to find a good feeling on the front, and I had to take the corners slowly. I am starting from far back, but I will do my own race and try to gain as many places as possible and get as much data as I can. I’m not happy with starting so far back, but I am not going to give up and I will be trying my hardest.”

Source: Aspar Team

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