MotoGP GP of Aragón – MotorLand Aragón
The riders of Team Reale Avintia Racing, Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres, were not very happy with their qualifying results for the Grand Prix of Aragón on Sunday.
The Belgian rider, who is contesting his second race on the bike of injured Tito Rabat, couldn’t improve his lap time as he had expected, due to dense traffic on the track during his last time attack in Q1. He will now start from the 22nd position of the grid. Upbeat about his race rhythm, Simeon believes he will be fast enough to ride and battle within another group of riders.
Teammate and rookie Jordi Torres also had a difficult second day of practice. After a crash in FP3 during the morning session, the rider from Rubí lost some of his confidence in the front end and in the front fork set-up of his bike. But the rider from Rubí made the best out of the day and improved his Friday time significantly. There is no hidden agenda for the race, simply to put up a fight.
Warm-Up will start at 9.40 on Sunday and both Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres are determined to put up a fight and get as many issues sorted as possible before the race starts at 14.00 h local time!”
“Honestly, I am disappointed because when we mounted the last rear tyre in qualifying, I ran into a lot of traffic and couldn’t get the result we were expecting. I am angry, because I expected a much bigger improvement with the new rear tyre and I felt really comfortable on the bike, so it’s a real shame. Now it will be even more important to get a good start, so I can get the maximum out of the race. It will be long, tough and very hot, but I am confident to be able to maintain my rhythm which should allow me to gain positions and fight for a good result.”
“It was a difficult day. In a nutshell, we were in delay for the whole day and it was my fault. This morning in FP3, I made a mistake downshifting and I came off the bike. It was a stupid crash, but big enough to throw out our plans for the whole day. We had best intentions to apply a bit more pressure, but this delay made us more careful instead. In FP4, we rode many laps in order to improve my feelings with the bike and to change my seating position. In Q1, I pushed harder and tried to lean over more than all the others, and I can say that I never ever in my life went with more lean angle. Riding like that, the bike behaved differently and we made a lot of progress. It’s a pity that we didn’t make this move in the morning. But nevertheless, I am highly motivated and we’ll now see what we can achieve in the race.
