Torres & Moreno Begin To Find Their Feet At Phillip Island
Two weeks after the Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi the Moto2 riders were back on track in an entirely different continent today as the Grand Prix of Australia got underway at Phillip Island. For the majority of riders the long and exhausting trip is worth the effort for what they believe to be the best track in the world. A crash-strewn day for all three classes was dominated in the Moto2 category initially by Stefan Bradl this morning and then by Alex de Angelis in the afternoon.
For MAPFRE Aspar pair Jordi Torres and Iván Moreno the challenge was merely to find their way around an entirely new circuit for them. The Spanish pair worked against the clock to improve their lap times, both shaving around a second off from the morning to the afternoon. Torres ran off track this afternoon but came back strongly to finish 27th fastest, whilst the less experienced Moreno also made a cautious start.
27th Jordi Torres 1.36.037 (45 laps):
“This is a really nice circuit and the landscape is stunning, I love the whole atmosphere of the place. It is a very demanding track and I still need to adapt to it. I need to learn the correct lines around the bumps, which are costing me a lot of time. We also need to work to improve the set-up. I made a small mistake this afternoon and ran wide when I was pushing hard, so it took me a few laps to get back up to speed. My feeling is good but I need to study the circuit and get used to the speed of some of the corners. We also need to get the bike turning better in the long corners but I am sure we’ll take a step forward tomorrow.”
35th Iván Moreno 1.38.032 (41 laps):
“Phillip Island is a fun circuit but also quite difficult. It is fast and bumpy and I struggled to adapt today. It was the first time I had ridden this bike and it is completely different to the one I ride in the CEV. We have to take things step by step and keep our feet on the ground. We have to get to know the track and the bike and when we are ready we will push harder. It was important to be cautious today because I didn’t want any setbacks at the start. I thought it would be even harder than this but the team are doing a great job to help me adapt to the circuit, the bike and the category”.
Source: Aspar Media