est gets good feeling and aims at Top Ten in Qatar – Ramos keeps improving but needs more time QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West ended the third and last pre-season test for the new Moto2 World Championship with a good feeling from his latest Speed Up prototype and is confident about his chances to break into the Top Ten at the season-opening race at Qatar. Small, but important changes to the chassis of the Speed Up made all the difference for the 32-year-old Australian, who can now ride significantly faster without taking near as many risks as before. Whereas lighting-fast one-off lap times were not on the agenda for the final three days of preparation for the new season – West settled for 19th place with a gap of 1.005 seconds to Takaaki Nakagami on the top of the time sheets – it was consistency and ease of riding that West and his team were focussed on and what boosted their confidence one week prior to the home race of QMMF Racing Team. West’s team-mate Román Ramos can’t wait for his first full Moto2 Grand Prix season to start. The 23-year-old Spaniard is especially excited about the night-race experience that is awaiting him at Qatar on Sunday, March 23rd, but at the same time, he is trying to limit his own expectations. Even though Ramos keeps improving every time he takes to the track, he still needs more time to close the gap to the top contenders of the hard-fought Moto2 category. Anthony West – 19th in 1.43,211 “On the first two days, we were having the same problem, we didn’t have enough grip and the bike was unstable and not easy to turn in the corners. But now, after the last day, I feel much happier, because we sorted the bike and found grip and stability. I am now 0.8 seconds faster than when I was during the race last year, which is good. My one-off lap time is still not really fast, but we were here to test and what we achieved is good for the race. Every time I go out, I can match the same time quite easily and this time is a lot faster than I have ever been here in Jerez, so I think we are quite strong. Last year, I was on the limit and quite slow at the same time, it felt that I was going to crash every lap. Now, the lap times are much faster and I still feel safer going at that speed. We are definitely on a good way. Speed-Up made some changes that I have been asking for and I think this is what we’ve got the consistency from. I am happy that the changes worked, because I have been pushing a lot for this. My expectation for the race at Qatar is a top ten position, which is where we should be at every race. For qualifying, I am not looking to be on the front row. We have been working on race pace, we’ve learned how to go faster every lap, not jut one fast lap. I am happy that we achieved that and I am quite confident!” Roman Ramos – 27th in 1.44,099 “We had three positive days of testing. We improved every time that we went out on the track and even though we are a little behind in comparison to the others, we worked well. All we need to do is to continue in this line and we will be more and more competitive. It’s not easy in this class, everybody is really strong and it’s a real challenge. I think that within two, three races, we will be battling for the positions that we deserve. But I don’t expect too much from the first race at Qatar. It is my first race of my first full world championship season and it will be difficult. But I can’t wait to go there and to experience the night race under floodlights. It’s great to have this opportunity and I am grateful to QMMF Racing Team for giving me a chance!”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:15:31 +0000
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