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.”
