MotoGP GP of Valencia – Ricardo Tormo
Reale Avintia Racing rider Xavier Simeon will miss out on his last race in the MotoGP World Championship. After two crashes on Friday, the Belgian rider was in discomfort during the night and eventually diagnosed with concussion. Xavier wanted to get back on the bike today but was declared unfit to race by Dr. Ángel Charte. He has to rest for at least 48 hours and it would not have been safe to race, neither for him nor for the other riders.
Jordi Torres was therefore the only representative of the team on the track today, making steady progress and improving a lot compared to Friday. In FP3 in wet conditions on Saturday morning the rider from Rubí was faster already, but it was in qualifying on a dry track where he made his biggest step forward. Torres will start the race on Sunday from 23rd place position of the grid and his lap time today was just three seconds slower than the time of pole position.
The warm-up session on Sunday will start at 9:40h, the MotoGP race of the season is scheduled for 14:00h, with rain forecasted for the entire day.
“It’s a real shame that I’m unable to ride. I had unexpected complications after yesterday’s crashes and even though I feel all right now, the doctors declared me unfit to race. Finishing my first and last year in MotoGP in this way is not what I had dreamed of, especially since I had a good chance to do well in wet conditions. I want to apologize to all my fans and the team. I would have liked to say goodbye with a good result, but it was not meant to happen. It’s very frustrating”.
“I felt much better better today and from FP3 on, we made a good step forward in the wet, which has been positive for my first weekend in these conditions. In FP4 the track dried up and in the end we mounted slick tyres, but the track was not dry at all and we didn’t take any risks. Except for a couple of wet patches, the track was dry in qualifying and we were able to improve. I expected it to be worse with my hand injury, because every time the bike moves I see the stars…but at least we don’t start from the last spot of the grid”.
