MotoGP GP de Valencia – Ricardo Tormo
Reale Avintia Racing rider Xavier Simeon completed the first day of practice for the Valencia Grand Prix with good feelings in the rain and finished in the top 15 despite scrashing twice.
In the morning session, he was very fast and consistently in the top 10, but when he pushed even harder to find the limit he had a high-side crash in turn 13. After passing through the hospital to rule out injuries to his head, Simeon returned to action in FP2. Despite the difficult conditions with even harder rain and despite suffering another crash, he finished 11th in the afternoon session and ended up 15th in the combines standings of the first day.
Jordi Torres didn’t have an easy day. His injured left thumb didn’t bother him too much on the bike, but the conditions were definitely too dangerous to take any risks. Without pushing too hard, the Spanish rider gained more knowledge about the behavior of his Ducati and the Michelin tyres in the wet. Tomorrow he hopes to take a step forward and get closer to the riders in front of him.
FP3 will start at 9:55 am on Saturday, followed by FP4 at 13:30 pm and qualifying from 14:10 pm.
“The conditions were difficult, but I enjoyed riding a lot. I had two crashes, and the first one this morning was a heavy one. I lost control on the penultimate corner and I had a high-side. I hit the asphalt quite hard and went to the hospital in Valencia to make sure that everything was all right in my head. Fortunately everything is fine, at least the way it was before the crash! In the afternoon my feelings were good again and my second crash was a bit strange, because I lost the rear on the corner entry. But I’m fine and tomorrow I want to continue and improve”.
“The day went very well, much better than I expected. If they had told me that I would be here racing a week after the operation, I would not have believed it. I have to thank Dr. Mir, Macna for making me a special glove and also my team because they have done a great job to make things easier for me on the bike. They have made a different handlebar to support my injured hand and it works very well. At the beginning it was like playing dice, but everything worked out well. The wet conditions were difficult but also an advantage for us because you don’T have to brake as hard and you need less force to handle the bike. It my first time in the rain with a MotoGP bike and with the Michelin wet tyres and although the difference is very big, I found the right feeling and tomorrow we will improve for sure.”
