Month: October 2018

MotoGP GP of Australia – Phillip Island

Reale Avintia Racing rider Xavier Simeon scored his first world championship point in the MotoGP class at the Australian Grand Prix today. Throughout the weekend, he showed how competitive he is on Phillip Island, Even though he didn’t have the best possible start, he was able to recover several positions and fought until the end to make sure of his first point in the premier class.
His teammate Jordi Torres was not happy after the race, since he had a promising race pace in the warm-up practice this morning. But conditions changed again at Phillip Island. The warmer, sunny conditions and higher track temperatures for the race were no problem, but it was windy and this affected Torres more than expected.

The Reale Avintia Racing riders will now head to Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the 18^th round of the MotoGP World Championship scheduled for November 2^nd to 4^th.

“I have a lot of problems with the clutch and once again, my start was horrible. I was last again, but this time at least I was able to recover some positions on the first lap. The bike was very good and I had the pace to fight between eleventh and fifteenth position. Ten laps from the end though, the left flank of the rear tyre was destroyed and I had to slow down. Therefore I’m a little bit disappointed. The weekend has been very good and I always felt strong, but we depend too much on tyre wear. Apart from this, I’m super happy about achieving my first MotoGP point and I want to thank my team because they helped me a lot since I got on this bike. In Malaysia we have to improve the start and work more with the tyres for the race. I hope to have fun again like here and score more points.”

“Today’s race has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. This morning in the warm-up I felt pretty strong and we had a very promising pace. But it was more windy in the race and tyres maybe did not reach the right working temperature on the first laps because twice I was close to a crash when I tried to push. This affected my confidence and I wasn’t riding comfortably throughout the race. I know what I have to do to go fast, but I lacked the confidence to do it. At least I’m gaining experience in every race and I hope things will go better in Malaysia. Sepang is a very long circuit and I’ll have to learn many things in a short time, because the other riders have done lot of kilometres over there. The heat will also be a new challenge for me. I hope to my level of fitness is high enough.”

MotoGP GP of Australia – Phillip Island

Reale Avintia Racing rider Xavier Simeon celebrated his best qualifying session of the season today at Phillip Island, finishing 17th with a best lap time of 1’30.679.
The Belgian rider managed to get more feedback and a better feeling with the soft rear Michelin tyre and is now another step closer to his goal of scoring points in the premier class. He hopes to further refine the set-up of his Ducati GP17 in the warm-up practice on Sunday morning, to improve his start and to gain some positions in the race in order to finally open his MotoGP points account.
His teammate Jordi Torres suffered a high speed crash this morning in turn 8 during FP3. The accident somehow dampened his confidence for a while, but in Q1 in the afternoon, he made a strrong comeback and improved his pace. Even more important was his consistency in FP4 with the hard rear tyre, which boosted his hopes to be able to fight with other riders in the race.

The MotoGP warm-up will start at 11:40h local time. The 27-lap-race is scheduled for 16:00h.

“This was the best weekend for me and for the team this season so far. We continued to work in the direction we took in Japan, where I was very comfortable with the bike, and as a consequence, I feel very good here as well. My sensations are the best I’ve had this year and we are getting closer. If I had been just two tenths of a second faster, I would have qualified within the top 15. My goal for tomorrow is to make a good start and fight for my first points in MotoGP. I really think points are within reach this weekend, but first of all we have to wait and see what the weather will be like, because it is always unpredictable her on Phillip Island. I want to thank the team because they are doing a great job and riding my bike is a lot of fun.”

“It’s been a day of ups and downs. This morning I suffered a crash that I still can’t understand and that certainly didn’t help our progression. We finished FP3 with great caution and it took some time to get the feeling back with the bike. In FP4 we mounted the hard rear tyre and I liked it. We still have to improve our race pace a lot, but I finished quite satisfied. Q1 wasn’t bad because I felt comfortable again after my high speed crash. All in all we are getting closer and I hope I can take another step forward tomorrow.”

MotoGP GP de Australia – Phillip Island

The first free practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix took place today at the fast and spectacular Phillip Island circuit, with Reale Avintia Racing riders Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres finishing 20^th and 22^nd in the combined time sheets.
The whole program of the day was delayed when a Moto3 rider sprayed oil all around the track, but following the intervention of the Race Direction and the circuit marshalls, action resumed two hours later. After rain showers in the morning, finally all sessions were held in dry and sunny, but cool conditions, which is the usual weather for this time of the year on Phillip Island.
Xavier Simeon discovered Phillip Island on a MotoGP bike today. The Belgian was satisfied with his pace using the hard rear tyre option of Michelin, although he hopes to improve also with the soft compound in order to get the best grid position for Sunday’s race.
His teammate Jordi Torres also used the first day to discover the 4.4km circuit on his Ducati MotoGP bike. Torres knows the Australian venue well, as he finished on the podium in Moto2 back in 2013 and was fourth in his debut race in WSBK in 2015. However, all his former references were not valid for MotoGP and today he made sure to go step by step in learning the circuit again and getting comfortable with his Desmosedici. Tomorrow, with all references re-set, he hopes to take a step forward in qualifying.

“It was a crazy day. This a real circuit and riding a MotoGP bike here is another world compared to Moto2. I got injured here last year, which is why I took it easy on the first few laps today. Later on, with increasing confidence, we started to improve and got faster on each exit. I’m satisfied with my pace, but when I grabbed a soft rear tyre towards the end, I was not able to improve. My feeling was not good and I didn’t have enough grip to go faster. It should not be like that, but at the moment I find myself more comfortable with the hard tyre. Tomorrow I hope to enjoy riding the bike again and to improve my position on the grid.”

“We had a good day. We took things calmly because even though I know the circuit, my references from the past were different because and I was used to get to the turns at a different speed. Once I had adjusted to the additional spee of the MotoGP bike, we started to improve the set-up step by step. Maybe we took it a little bit too easy, because in the end we ran out of time and couldn’t push for a faster lap. But overall we worked well. There were a lot of crashes today and I didn’t want to destroy the bike or get hurt. It was very important to finish both sessions on the bike. With the additional experience, I ‘m sure I can take another step tomorrow.”

MotoGP GP of Japan – Twin Ring Motegi

Reale Avintia Racing riders Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres finished today’s Japanese Grand Prix in 16^th and 17^th place.

Xavier Simeon had a poor start from the penultimate row of the grid and he did his best to recover during the race. But even though, these first few laps cost him a lot of time and he lost contact with the group of riders that eventually scored points.

On his third race with Reale Avintia Racing, Jordi Torres made a big step forward. Motegi is a circuit where the Spaniard always struggled in the past, but on this occasion, he improved in every session. Today in the race, he was challenging his teammate until the chequered flag. He also discovered more things on his bike and the Michelin tyres.

The next MotoGP World Championship round takes place in Phillip Island in five days.

“To be honest, I think my race today was very good. I clocked decent lap times and I was close to score points. The biggest problem today was the start. I’m not able to start well with this bike and in the first lap I found myself in last position. At the beginning of the race my pace was not the best and I lost contact with the group that was fighting for points. I leave Japan with mixed feelings, because today I had the pace to score points and we didn’t succeed. On the other hand I’m happy, because this weekend was really positive. I was very comfortable with the bike and we were closer. The team did an excellent job and they keep helping me a lot to improve.”

“The weekend was positive, although I made some mistakes and I crashed. But all in all, the weekend was very good. And even more so considering what a difficult circuit Motegi is, with a lot of hard braking, where it is easy to make mistakes. I tried to ride the bike in a smoother way. I had a good start and overtook some riders, but a little later on the grip level dropped and I decided to try and change my riding style to stay competitive. I managed to adapt to the change in tyre performance, which had been my target, and to achieve it was for sure the most positive thing of the weekend.”

MotoGP GP of Japan – Twin Ring Motegi

Reale Avintia Racing riders completed the qualifying practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in sunny and warm conditions.

Xavier Simeon will start Sunday’s 24-lap-race from the 22^nd place of the grid, while his teammate Jordi Torres qualified in 25^th place. Both expected much more from the qualifying session, but both suffered small setbacks with early crashes.
Torres was the first to fall on Saturday morning in FP3 and, although the mechanics did a great job to repair his bike on time, was not able to take advantage of fresh Michelin tyres in qualifying.
Simeon suffered a minor crash in FP4. However, an important piece broke on his Ducati, which prevented him from going to Q1 with the same bike. Although the set-up of the second bike was similar, the Belgian rider didn’t have the same feeling and will therefore start the race from the penultimate row of the grid.
The MotoGP warm-up session is scheduled for 9:40h, while the race will start at 14:00h local time.

“We had a really good pace throughout the weekend so far and we made a step forward for sure. Unfortunately, I was not able to go into qualifying with my first bike. I had a small crash in FP4, in which an important piece broke, and my team did not have enough time repair the bike for qualifying. I felt okay with the second bike, but I didn’t have the same feeling as with the number one bike, because the set-up was slightly different. Nevertheless, I think I can do a good race tomorrow and fight to get my first points in the championship.”

“Today I had a good feeling with the bike. Unfortunately, I trusted the front tyre a little too muuch and crashed ona corner entrance. The team did a fantastic job repairing the bike and I had both bikes ready for FP4. We did several laps with used tyres and we kept the same pace, which is very good. But when we mounted a new rear soft tyre for time-attack, I was not able to use it to my advantage. I still have to learn to brake at the right time, maybe a little earlier, so I can prepare the entrance of the turn better and exit with more throttle.”