Faubel Manages Creditable 10th In Tricky Assen Conditions
The 125cc Dutch TT started without the series leader, BANKIA Aspar’s Nico Terol, who was in hospital receiving treatment for a finger injury suffered in practice. There was still plenty of talent on show, however, in a tricky race for the lower cylinder class. The opening laps featured a wealth of overtaking moves, but the real action began when rain started to fall at Assen on lap two. The track got gradually wetter, before Race Direction saw fit to show the red flan with seven laps to go. With two-thirds of the contest completed, full championship points were awarded and the podium consisted of Viñales, Salom and Gadea.
BANKIA Aspar’s Héctor Faubel was aiming for a podium at Assen. He started from fourth on the grid and made a strong start. He was part of the top three fight early on, battling with a group of riders. Feeling comfortable and with a bike performing to a high level, things were looking good. However, the arrival of rain meant a lack of visibility for the Spaniard, and he dropped down the order to finish tenth. It was a creditable result under the circumstances, but short of Faubel’s expectations.
Adrián Martín also had a difficult time of things in the rain. He set off from 23rd but was chasing a points finish. A crash on lap eight left him with even more work to do, as he crossed the line 33rd.
10th Héctor Faubel:
“This race was looking good for us. I got a good start, my bike was going better than ever and I felt comfortable at the beginning. It is clear now that I made the wrong choice of helmet today. I had the dark visor on, so when the rain came down it steamed up completely and I couldn’t see a thing. I was opening the visor on the straight and was going pretty well on the first section, but when I got onto the weaving corners I had visibility problems. I am not happy with this result, because we had everything in our favour to have got a good result. It was strange that they stopped the race, when it had been raining almost since the start.”
33rd Adrián Martín:
“Besides the weather conditions that affected us a lot, we were also unlucky with our setup. We worked hard, but thinks didn’t turn out as we would have liked. Starting from 23rd on the grid, my intention was to gain as many places as posible and try and take some points, but just when I was managing it, I made a mistake that locked up my steering. Because of that, I took Iwema out of the race. It was my mistake and I want to apologise to him. I hope that at Mugello we will go back to being as competitive as we were before.”
Source: Aspar Media