Category: MotoGP

MotoGP GP of San Marino – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli

Following the unfortunate accident of Tito Rabat during the practice of the last Grand Prix of Great Britain that will take him off the tracks for a while, Reale Avintia Racing team was forced to reorganize quickly to have two riders this weekend in Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
Until Tito Rabat is ready to get back on his bike, his teammate Xavier Simeon will compete with the Spaniard’s Ducati GP17. At this stage of the season it was difficult to find an available rider with enough experience to cover Rabat seat, so Xavi was the perfect candidate.
In the other hand, to replace the place of Simeon at the San Marino Grand Prix, the frenchman Christophe Ponsson will debut with the team. The 22-year-old is one of the fastest riders in the FIM CEV Superbike Championship and he hopes to make the most of this opportunity.
It will not be the first time that the Reale Avintia Racing sees a rider making his debut in MotoGP, two seasons ago the Australian Mike Jones rode Héctor Barberá’s Ducati and ended up scoring points at Phillip Island, or Javi del Amor, who scored one point in Barcelona 2013 with the FTR.

“The first thing is to wish Tito the best and fastest recovery, he is a great guy and I hope he comes back very soon. But I can not hide that I’m very happy to get on his bike. Tito has done great things this year and for me it is a great opportunity to get on the GP17, I will try to give the maximum and I hope to get as close as possible to his level. I want to thank the team and Zelos for making it possible. I hope that Tito recovers soon and I have to open full gas to take advantage of this opportunity”.

“I’m super happy and excited. I really want to get on the bike. Racing in MotoGP is the dream of any rider and I still can not believe that on Friday I will be on track with the riders I see from home every weekend. I always try to learn from them on TV and now I can do it on the track! I am happy! I am 22 years old and this opportunity is something incredible. I know it will be difficult and I will have to learn many things in a very short time, the bike, the carbon brakes, the Michelin tires, but I am willing to enjoy and learn. I will try to give my best on the bike and I hope to reward the team and all those who have helped me to fulfill my dream”.

Reale Avintia Racing rider, Tito Rabat, spoke today to the media at the Dexeus University Hospital from Quirón Salud Group. Beside the Catalan rider were doctors, Ángel Charte, Xavier Mir and Ignacio Ginebreda, who have been following the evolution of Rabat’s injury from the moment of the accident.
The intervention of the MotoGP Medical Team at the gravel in Silverstone was crucial and the surgery carried out at the University Hospital of Coventry under the supervision of Charte, Mir and Ginebreda was a success and was carried out as planned.
Rabat arrived in Barcelona last Friday and after carrying out all kinds of tests, the severity of his injury has been confirmed and he has already started active and passive rehabilitation at the Dexeus University Hospital. At the moment, doctors do not want to give recovery times. “We have to give it time and we can not fix a date. Tito will recover as soon as possible, but I dare not give a return date. These kind of fractures take time to consolidate. It will be necessary to evaluate the moment he will be able to comeback riding his bike, and the risks that it entails,” said Dr. Ignacio Ginebreda. “We have planned several actions to accelerate consolidation to the maximum. You can get on the bike before the fractures are fully consolidated, but you always have to assess the existing risks.”
The most important thing is that the fractures are correctly fixed and ligaments and joints in Rabat’s leg have not been affected. We will keep you informed about Tito Rabat recovery in our social media channels.

“At Silverstone we saw how important it is to have the Medical Team in MotoGP and I want to thank all of them for their great work. I also want to thank to those who operated on me in England because they did a great job. I want to return as soon as possible, but I will do what the doctors say. The priority is to recover as soon as possible, but in the end, those who rule are them based on the evolution of the leg. The worst of the accident was the pain, which practically has not let me sleep. I never thought about losing my leg, although I saw it twisted like an S when I was laying on the gravel. I lost a lot of blood and I got scared. I have learned a lesson and from now on every time I crash again I will look back. At that moment I saw that Rins was warning me to get out of there, and I saw Franco’s bike coming very fast towards me, I stand up and the bike hit my leg, otherwise it would have been much worse”.

MotoGP British GP – Silverstone

The British Grand Prix has been cancelled due to safety reasons. After the multiple accident on Saturday that resulted in a serious injury to the right leg for Reale Avintia rider, Tito Rabat, and despite the work carried out by Dorna and Silverstone circuit staff to improve the track’s drainage, a consistent rain came at 9:30 in the morning and it didn’t stop until the afternoon, so finally, the races have been cancelled.

The warm-up session started at 9:00 am, with the asphalt dry, but then the sky was covered with clouds and it has not stopped raining all day. After an unsuccessful attempt of race start, Grand Prix Commission did an emergency meeting to make a decision. It has been proposed to delay the races for Monday, but there has been no unanimity from the teams. At the end it was decided to wait for an improvement in the conditions, but finally, and after consulting the MotoGP riders, at 16:00h all the races were cancelled.

The best news of the day has come from the University Hospital of Coventry, where Tito Rabat, has been able to take his first steps with the help of a walker. Rabat will remain in the British hospital until Thursday, before traveling to Barcelona to start to work with Hospital Universitary Quiron Dexeus doctors and being able to assess the recovery time.

The next round of the MotoGP World Championship will be in Misano in two weeks.

“Today was a very strange day. We hoped that the conditions would improve, or at least start a little earlier, but we had very bad luck. In the end all the riders, except one, have made the decision not to race with the track in such dangerous conditions. Especially after what happened yesterday with Tito, which for all of us was a miracle he didn’t sustained much more serious injuries. We’re very sorry for the fans, but it’s not our fault. This is something that was not seen for more than 30 years and, it is a pity, that with the current technology these things happen”.

MotoGP British Grand Prix – Silverstone

Reale Avintia Racing rider Tito Rabat suffered a serious injury in FP4 at Silverstone today. Heavy rain had started to fall and since the new tarmac didn’t drain the water away, large puddles formed at different points of the track. In turn 7, better known as Stowe, the accumulation of water was enormous and several riders, Tito Rabat being one of them, crashed. When Tito got up to reach the safety of the trackside barriers, he was hit by Franco Morbidelli’s bike with full force. The first medical assessment revealed that Rabat broke femur, tibia and fibula of his right leg. The Spanish rider was airlifted to the University Hospital of Coventry by helicopter and will undergo emergency surgery this afternoon.

We will keep informing with any updates.

Xavier Simeon didn’t have a good day either and finished qualifying in 24^th position, with his only hope to find a solution in the Sunday morning warm-up session in order to be more competitive in the race.

Due to the forecast of more rain tomorrow and for safety reasons, warm-up will start at 9:00 h and the 20-lap MotoGP race will take place at 11.30 h.

“Honestly, it was a disaster since we started yesterday. We don’t know why, but I can’t even get close to the group of riders with which I fight normally. I am far behind, even in the wet and in mixed conditions, where I am normally quite fast. We just aren’t at the right level and we don’t find solutions. All this apart, my thoughts today are with Tito who suffered an injury without being at fault. It looks as if it is a serious injury which he deserves least of everyone, because he is a hard worker and lives his profession as a rider like nobody else. I really wish him a quick recovery. If it rains tomorrow, it will be impossible to race on this circuit because the water doesn’t drain away and we have already have seen what happened to Tito.”

MotoGP British GP – Silverstone

Tito Rabat, rider of Team Reale Avintia Racing, ended the first day of practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 13^th position, but his potential is even higher, as he showed with seventh position in the first free practice session on Friday morning. An unfortunate crash in the last minutes of the afternoon session dashed his hopes of improving further, but the Spaniard remains confident that he has the pace to make a direct move to Q2 and to be able to fight for a good grid position.

For his team-mate Xavier Simeon, the first day of practice at Silverstone was difficult. He could not significantly improve his lap times and trailed the field in the combined classification. The Belgian rider and his team are looking for a solution for Saturday, with the aim of being more competitive in qualifying and of improving the race pace for Sunday.

The weather forecast for Saturday is good, but on Sunday, rain is forecasted for the region of Towcester, so the riders have to be prepared for the possibility of a wet race.

“I was a bit worried this morning, because even though we finished in seventh position, I didn’t have a lot of confidence with the medium front tyre compound. But in the afternoon, I went out with the hard option and I felt really well. The crash towards the end of the session, when I just was at the point of speeding up and putting in a better lap time, was a bit of a shame. But all in all, we are working well and since it is going to remain dry tomorrow, we can continue to work in the same direction. We’ll grit our teeth and fight in the FP3 in order to make a direct assault on the Q2.”

“It was a very difficult day. Once again, we did well on one circuit and arriving at the next one, we are being thrown back again, far behind the front runners. I don’t understand why the feelings with the bike can be so different from one circuit to the next and to tell the truth, I was a bit frustrated today. We improved only marginally from FP1 to FP2 and I don’t feel comfortable on the bike at all. I hope we can find something tomorrow that will allow us to make a big step and to be closer to the front.”

MotoGP British GP – Silverstone

Reale Avintia Racing riders Tito Rabat and Xavier Simeon, head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix this weekend.

Rabat travels to England very motivated after two very positive race weekends in the Czech Republic and Austria. In both races, he ran out of luck on Sunday, but the Catalan rider remains confident that Silverstone could mark the turning point in this season.

The Spaniard has great memories of the British track, in particular of his victory ahead of Mika Kallio and Maverick Viñales in 2014, which pathed his way to be crowned Moto2 World Champion.
For Simeon, everything will be new this weekend at Silverstone. The Belgian rider of Reale Avintia has no previous experience in MotoGP at the British track, that was completely resurfaced this year. He also missed the Moto2 race last season due to an injury. Simeon hopes that it will be possible to adapt his Ducati to the characteristics of the circuit, so he can continue to learn and improve in his first season in the premier class.

“Following two good Grand Prix, we head to Silverstone in a positive mood. It is one of my favourite circuits and I’m looking forward to ride my Ducati there. I’m eager to score a good result, because although we did a good job in Brno and Austria, on Sunday we couldn’t turn this into the result we had hoped for. We work hard and we are on a good level, so I hope that Silverstone will be the place where we can finally put everything together for the result we deserve”.

“I didn’t race at Silverstone last year because I was injured, but I’m really curious to discover the circuit and its new tarmac on a MotoGP bike. We had a positive weekend in Austria although we didn’t get our price on Sunday. I hope the track is good for my Ducati and it will suit my riding style. I want to keep the momentum from Austria and enjoy riding the bike again.”

MotoGP GP of Austria – Spielberg

The weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix was very positive for Reale Avintia Racing rider Tito Rabat. After a great start from the seventh place on the grid, he fought with the front group of riders on the opening laps of the race. He maintained his seventh place until mid-race but then paid tribute to early wear of his rear tyre and had to lower his rhythm for the last third of the race. He first fell victim to an attack of Valentino Rossi, then he had to let Dani Pedrosa escape and rode in ninth position, before the performance of his rear tyre dropped again in the last laps and he crossed the line in eleventh place.

Reale Avintia team-mate Xavier Simeon also had a strong weekend in Austria, with his best qualification in this season so far. In the race, be battled with the other rookies of the MotoGP class, but crashed on lap eleven and wasn’t able to finish the race.

“We have done everything right this weekend, we did well in the practice sessions and in qualifying, I had a good start and I rode a strong race. Only towards the end, a part of the puzzle was missing. On the last laps, I was left without rear tyre grip and suffered quite a bit. The bike worked fantastically, I was with the front group of riders on the first laps and we were closer to the top once again. Now I have to learn how to manage throttle control in the right way to save the tyres. Thanks to the team that did a great job as always!””.

“A very positive weekend ended in a bad way. I had a lot of problems with the soft front tyre compound in the race, the front was constantly at the point of folding away until it finally happened and I crashed. I am very disappointed because up until the race, everything had gone so well and it was a shame that it ended like that.”

MotoGP GP of Austria – Spielberg

Reale Avintia Racing rider Tito Rabat scored a fantastic seventh place in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. His team-mate Xavier Simeon shone again in wet conditions and will start from 19th place on the grid, his best starting position in this season so far.

Once again, the day started with rain and low temperatures at Spielberg. Rabat, who had his ticket for the Q2 top qualifying already secured, preferred to watch the FP3 from his garage, knowing that the qualifying would take place in dry conditions. His strategy worked out. With race settings, he had a great pace in FP4 and in the Q2, he scored an impressive seventh position.

In contrary to Rabat, Xavier Simeon took to the track in the wet. He clocked an amazing time and was fastest for a while, before dropping back to eleventh. In FP4, which took place in dry conditions, he was also higher up than usual. Keeping his spirit high despite a crash, he was fast again in Q1 and scored 19^th place. On the starting grid for the race, he will be even higher up in 18^th position, since Franco Morbidelli was penalised and lost three places in the time sheets.

“So far, we’ve had a good weekend. We were clever yesterday and pushed at the right moment to get into QP2. Today we had a really strong pace in FP4 and were competitive once again when it counted in qualifying. But obviously, the race is on Sunday. I hope to put the bad luck of our recent races behind me and to be able to fight for a good result, which we really need by now. We can’t prepare ourselves any better, we are trying everything possible and all we can do now is wait and see if we can battle for the result we deserve.”

“It was a good day and I had very good feelings with the bike, in the wet as much as in dry conditions. On a wet track in the morning, I felt comfortable and had a good rhythm. Later on in dry conditions, I also felt great and confident, but at the end of FP4, I had a crash. This didn’t dent my confidence for the qualifying though and despite the fact that I had to go out with my other bike, I clocked a fast time and achieved my best grid position of the year. I hope to be able to fight with the group in front of me tomorrow and to score my first points of the season.”

MotoGP GP of Austria – Spielberg

In the first free practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, Reale Avintia Racing rider Tito Rabat surprised once again and is, for the time being, classified for the Q2 top qualifying session. In dry conditions, the Spaniard clocked a lap time of 1’24.676 which put him in eighth position in the combined standings for the day, since the second session in the afternoon took place in the wet. Rabat was 14^th in the FP2, and his feeling with the Ducati Desmosedici keeps improving every time he goes out in the rain.

Team-mate Xavier Simeon also had a good opening day at Spielberg. The Belgian rider of Reale Avintia was 22^nd in the morning and achieved competitive lap times. In the wet afternoon session, he didn’t ride very much, but six laps were enough for him to clock the 12^th fastest time in the wet. Simeon was very surprised about the high level of grip in these conditions.

The FP3 will start at 9.55 h on Saturday, the FP4 at 13.30 h, followed by the qualification heats at 14.05 h

“It was a very positive day. We knew that it was going to rain in the afternoon, so we pushed in the FP1 and for the moment, we are in the Q2, which is our goal. It was a good strategy because there is a good chance that it will still be wet in FP3. I am happy with my rhythm this morning because we were able to continue in the same line as in Brno, where we were fast. In the afternoon we preferred to wait for a long time before going out in the wet, but then I did five good laps and I was surprised how fast I found my rhythm and how fast I got the right feeling. In the past, I have always been struggling in the wet, but with this motorcycle, my feeling in the wet improves from time to time. We are ready for whatever conditions we will face, but I hope it won’t rain tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend”.

“This morning, I found my rhythm immediately and things went much better than I expected. I felt very comfortable on the bike and I had a lot of confidence. But in the end, when I grabbed a new rear tyre, I was once again unable to get the maximum performance out of it and I couldn’t come up with the last bit of speed to break into the Top 15. But all in all, things went much better. In the afternoon, it was a nice surprise to discover how much grip this track has in the wet. Last year in Moto2, the track was really dangerous, but today it was fantastic. I only rode a few laps, but I enjoyed riding the bike in these conditions.”