Terol and Torres delight home crowd with fantastic 1-2 finish in season finale
Moto2 action for the season ended in typically entertaining style, wih an unpredicatable race in Valencia. Newly crowned World Champion Pol Espargaró led early on, but after establishing a 1.5 second advantage, was caught by Nico Terol. He crashed out on lap 8, leaving the door open for Terol to pass, establish his pace and take the win by a 4-second margin. Teammate Jordi Torres was second and Johann Zarco completed the podium.
He has taken many podium finishes in Valencia in his career (two second places and a third in 125cc, one third place in Moto2) and clinched a title there in 2011, even having a corner (Turn 4) named after him. However, Nico Terol had never won a race at his true home round, and was keen to do so in 2013. His dream came true with a dominant win reminiscent of his triumphs at Austin and Aragón, escaping for glory. A great start took Terol from sixth on the grid to third, and from there he hunted down Corsi and then Espargaró (who would crash before he could attempt a pass). The MAPFRE Aspar rider took his chance and broke away, earning his fourth podium finish of the season and a memorable victory.
To the right of Terol on the podium was teammate Jordi Torres. The MAPFRE Aspar one-two was completed in style by the winner of the German GP and third place finisher in Australia. He needed a second place for his collection, and he took it at the final race of the year. Caught up in the early traffic, he was fifth on the opening lap and then moved up the order, with a new record of 1’35.694 set in the process. After leaving Corsi behind, he took a solitary second place to round off the season.
1st Nico Terol: “To end the year with a win is fantastic, I thoroughly enjoyed this home Grand Prix. At first I was comfortable, but when I began riding alone the race seemed to last forever. Much of the secret of the victory was in the start. During the race I noticed that the wind increased and so at the end I was not so comfortable. Furthermore, the performance of the tyres decreased a lot, I had a big scare and almost crashed. Luckily I managed to react and stay focused. Corsi pushed tight on me in the middle of the race but I managed to gain a couple of tenths with my pace for a few laps, finally leaving him behind. It’s great to end the year with a win. After getting three this year I think we have taken a big step forward, but we must continue to improve for 2014 –we still need to fine tune some details. In Moto2 no victory is simple, I had to be very consistent to reach the objective. My hairs stood up on end when I saw all the fans cheering on the lap of honour. Winning at home means making another dream come true.”
2nd Jordi Torres: “I am very happy with this second place. This is our first full season in the Moto2 World Championship and we have been on all three steps of the podium -you could not ask for more. The most important thing is that this year we have gathered a lot of information and gained a lot of experience for next season. As for the race today, I suffered a lot. At first, I diced with Luthi and Aegerter, although they easily overtook me on the straight and I did not have enough top speed to match them, so I had to make the ground up on the corners. We had a good pace this weekend, so that’s what helped us to be so competitive today. Towards the middle of the race my tyres went off and I had a scare, but fortunately I was able to make the save. When I reached Corsi I studied him a little and soon I thought it best to try to break away, to avoid any problems. I finished the race tired and with a sore foot, but I’m happy because I managed to cross the finish line in second position. I want to thank the team, of course, and Dr. Anna Carreras, as thanks to her I recovered in record time, and today I was able to compete without too many complications.”
Source: Aspar Team
