Jordi Torres ends exceptional Australian weekend with 3rd, Nico Terol finishes 9th

Race Direction yesterday cut the Moto2 race distance from 23 to 13 laps, due to the safety requirements of the riders.

Tyre degradation concerns at the resurfaced Phillip Island track led to the move being made. Thus, a sprint race took place in the intermediate class, with a fast pace run and a new lap record set by Alex De Angelis (1’32.814). Pol Espargarò started strong from pole position, and was able to pull away and take the win –despite Thomas Luthi and Jordi Torres almost closing him down at the end.

The absence of hitherto overall leader Scott Redding, after breaking his wrist yesterday, gave Espargarò command of the standings.

Jordi Torres capped off a great weekend in Australia with a podium. Last year he had to come back through the field from far back, but in 2013 the MAPFRE Aspar Team rider had been up at the front right from Friday.

He had clinched a front row start for today’s contest in a tough qualifying session, and was ready for a good race at one of his favourite tracks on the calendar. Showing some of his best riding this season, Torres was part of the lead group for the entirety of the race, rounding off the shortened contest with third place. Along the way, he was just 6 tenths of a second off the fastest lap of the race, with a 1’32.820 lap.

Teammate Nico Terol also had an enjoyable trip to Australia, with a positive race today. The Spaniard was just behind the leaders, until a crash for two riders behind him caused a distraction and allowed those ahead to break free. Terol eventually placed ninth.

3rd Jordi Torres:
“I am very happy, because it ended up being a complete weekend here at Phillip Island. We managed to close out with a magnificent podium. The race was short and we knew that we had to push hard from the beginning to keep with the leading pack, but also we had to be smooth with our riding to preserve the tyres. Still, we got to the end with the rubber severely degraded, but we were able to hold on. The plan worked out pretty well. I am very happy with third place; maybe I missed a little more of a push to catch Luthi on the final laps, but still I’m satisfied. It’s my first full season in Moto2, I am very proud to be getting podiums. We are doing a fabulous job and hopefully we will be rewarded for this. It shows that we are finding our place in class.”

9th Nico Terol:
“On Friday I had some problems but yesterday I was very happy with my pace. Today was rather windier than the other days here, and it was warm. The wind made it difficult to ride. I started well and early on I kept in the leading group. Afterwards I dropped off a bit and tried to recover but suddenly Pasini and Simón crashed behind me. Upon hearing the noise I eased off the gas slightly. That made me lose a few more metres and eventually I ended up losing contact completely with the leading group. It was a tough weekend, at a track where I suffered last year, I’m happy, because both yesterday and today our feeling was great.”

Source: Aspar Media