Calendar & Results
GP 12 : San Marino
After the disappointment at the complicated GP in the Czech Republic, held mid-august, the Haulotte riders have once again left their mark in the World Championship. It has been during this weekend, in the GP held in San Marino at the Misano circuit, where the three of them, Julito Simón, Marc Márquez and Tito Rabat finished with moments at the head in both the 125cc and the 250cc races, ending in good final results.
Simon, looking for the podium
In Misano, Julito Simón made equal time with his best final result of the season, during a weekend where he was always in one of the leading positions. The GP’s start off was promising. During the first free practice, Simón finished fourth, making sixth best time during the official, even if he suffered some problems while taking the corners. “Seeing how the day went, I set myself the objective to finish in front row on Saturday. To do so we had to keep on insisting on the bike’s development, both in it’s motor and it’s chassis, to get closer to Aprilia. In the end I was very pleased with the team’s work, and I pushed myself to the maximum to try and be there up front. We only had to improve in some corners and some brakes, especially with respect to Simoncelli, who was the leader. In general, this circuit adapts to my qualities as a rider a little more. It also seemed better for the bike, so we had to work hard to take the most advantage of it”. The Haulotte rider demonstrated this improvement during the first practice on Saturday. Julito finished third although he didn’t manage his objective of getting into first row in the afternoon. He managed seventh place, in a session with a lot of traffic on the track, that proved an obstacle to continue with the pace he had set in the morning. “It went pretty well. We completed a good work program in the morning, even though we weren’t able to do the same in the afternoon. During the last round I found a little traffic, as I hadn’t calculated the distance that was between myself and the riders in front of me very well, so that I could attack with a clear track. Unfortunately I trapped Pesek mid-lap and that conditioned my time quite a bit. I think I could have finished third or fourth. Anyway I had a good pace, especially in the morning when it wasn’t so hot. Everything was ready for the race, I was ready to go and was aiming for everything”. Even though it turned out badly, Simón quickly turned up at the positions at the head. Even though the differences between his KTM and the Aprilia finally took their toll, and took his chances for the podium away. Even so, he took a good fifth place in the end. “The result is positive, although I would have liked to do more and reach the podium. The problem was that at each corner I had to ride narrowly so that I could follow the Aprilia’s pace. We need more engine and we have to work in that sense. I’m happy because I did the maximum from the first round, although I should have closed those spaces better in the first laps so that so many people couldn’t have overtaken me. I want to thank the team and dedicate this result to them, because they have cheered me on at all times”.
The smartest: Márquez
Marc Marquez’s good results aren’t a surprise anymore and are proving that he is this season’s revelation. Even so the Haulotte rider had a so-so start at the GP. It started on Friday with a very slow twenty-third position, due mainly to a problem with the suspensions. “During the first session I went out to get to know the circuit and see how I felt. I soon felt comfortable and rode rapidly. But in the afternoon I had more trouble and I ended up pretty far behind. The suspension didn’t have a good set-up and I knew that improving this I could get my time down by a lot. Misano is a circuit with a lot of potholes and that makes the riding harder”. Márquez proved he was right. On Saturday he managed to solve his problems so he was able to have the eight best time, placed in the second row at the starting grid. A great result for the Haulotte rider. “In the morning we had already made good time. We had made good adjustments in the suspension, although we needed a little more engine, something that in general was affecting all the KTM. The position at the grid was good and I knew a good start was important and afterwards to keep up with the group”. Said and done. Once again Márquez proved what he was worth when the light goes off. At the start-off he settled into fifth place, and even though the two leading riders got away very quickly, he managed to get into a group with riders such as Terol, Espargaró, Iannone, Cortese or his mate Rabat. A group that would end up fighting for fourth place, a prize that the young Marc finally won, the smartest rider during the race’s final. “It was a very fought over race, as the bike didn’t run very fast. The engine need a little more but I felt comfortable, with a good set up for the suspension. Both the team and myself did a good job during the weekend, and the result proves it. We were in a big group, and it was hot. It was hard to hold on, but in the end I was smart, I studied Terol, and was able to overtake him when there were three corners left”.
A suffered ninth place
Things didn’t start off very well at the GP for Tito Rabat. Although he improved his time from the morning to the afternoon by two seconds, Rabat was suffering due to the low performance of his KTM, that ended up putting him in a provisional sixteenth place after the first official. “Misano is a circuit that I really like. It has strong brakes, fast corners and I really enjoy myself, but during the first day it didn’t go too well. During the afternoon practice the differences between the KTM and the Aprilia were very notable. They were faster and we lost acceleration with respect to them. I had some problems with the chassis, that wouldn’t allow me to take corners as fast as I wanted to at some points of the circuit. I knew that we had to work hard thinking of Saturday”. Rabat’s sensations improved during the free practice in the morning, but a problem with a tyre placed him in nineteenth place even though he had improved Friday’s register.“In the morning things didn’t go badly. It wasn’t too hot and that was favourable to us. But in the afternoon the temperature rose and I had problems with my tyres. They slid a little and that made me slower. Also the difference compared to the Aprilia was even more noticeable than usual. I had to try and make a good start and push as hard as I could until the end if I wanted to have a good race”. Rabat pushed from the start, gaining positions little by little until he was close enough to the group where his mate Marc was riding in. Tito entered the fight for fourth position, a chance that was soon messed up because the tyres were excessively worn down by then. Because of this problem he had to conform with a final ninth place, after proving his courage on the bike. “The first laps were very intense, overtaking many riders. Then I settled down in a group, fighting the whole time, and suffering very much in order to push ahead. I managed to reach the riders that were in front of me, and I even was seventh, but at that point the bike began to slid. I kept on losing control of my back tyre and also, the bike didn’t run very fast. I ended up very tired due to the effort: during the last rounds I even got dizzy and I had to bring the pace down”.
The World Championship takes a break for a week, to later land in the United States, for it’s first visit to the famous Indianapolis circuit. This will be the beginning a series of long trips that will take the riders to Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
Simon, looking for the podium
In Misano, Julito Simón made equal time with his best final result of the season, during a weekend where he was always in one of the leading positions. The GP’s start off was promising. During the first free practice, Simón finished fourth, making sixth best time during the official, even if he suffered some problems while taking the corners. “Seeing how the day went, I set myself the objective to finish in front row on Saturday. To do so we had to keep on insisting on the bike’s development, both in it’s motor and it’s chassis, to get closer to Aprilia. In the end I was very pleased with the team’s work, and I pushed myself to the maximum to try and be there up front. We only had to improve in some corners and some brakes, especially with respect to Simoncelli, who was the leader. In general, this circuit adapts to my qualities as a rider a little more. It also seemed better for the bike, so we had to work hard to take the most advantage of it”. The Haulotte rider demonstrated this improvement during the first practice on Saturday. Julito finished third although he didn’t manage his objective of getting into first row in the afternoon. He managed seventh place, in a session with a lot of traffic on the track, that proved an obstacle to continue with the pace he had set in the morning. “It went pretty well. We completed a good work program in the morning, even though we weren’t able to do the same in the afternoon. During the last round I found a little traffic, as I hadn’t calculated the distance that was between myself and the riders in front of me very well, so that I could attack with a clear track. Unfortunately I trapped Pesek mid-lap and that conditioned my time quite a bit. I think I could have finished third or fourth. Anyway I had a good pace, especially in the morning when it wasn’t so hot. Everything was ready for the race, I was ready to go and was aiming for everything”. Even though it turned out badly, Simón quickly turned up at the positions at the head. Even though the differences between his KTM and the Aprilia finally took their toll, and took his chances for the podium away. Even so, he took a good fifth place in the end. “The result is positive, although I would have liked to do more and reach the podium. The problem was that at each corner I had to ride narrowly so that I could follow the Aprilia’s pace. We need more engine and we have to work in that sense. I’m happy because I did the maximum from the first round, although I should have closed those spaces better in the first laps so that so many people couldn’t have overtaken me. I want to thank the team and dedicate this result to them, because they have cheered me on at all times”.
The smartest: Márquez
Marc Marquez’s good results aren’t a surprise anymore and are proving that he is this season’s revelation. Even so the Haulotte rider had a so-so start at the GP. It started on Friday with a very slow twenty-third position, due mainly to a problem with the suspensions. “During the first session I went out to get to know the circuit and see how I felt. I soon felt comfortable and rode rapidly. But in the afternoon I had more trouble and I ended up pretty far behind. The suspension didn’t have a good set-up and I knew that improving this I could get my time down by a lot. Misano is a circuit with a lot of potholes and that makes the riding harder”. Márquez proved he was right. On Saturday he managed to solve his problems so he was able to have the eight best time, placed in the second row at the starting grid. A great result for the Haulotte rider. “In the morning we had already made good time. We had made good adjustments in the suspension, although we needed a little more engine, something that in general was affecting all the KTM. The position at the grid was good and I knew a good start was important and afterwards to keep up with the group”. Said and done. Once again Márquez proved what he was worth when the light goes off. At the start-off he settled into fifth place, and even though the two leading riders got away very quickly, he managed to get into a group with riders such as Terol, Espargaró, Iannone, Cortese or his mate Rabat. A group that would end up fighting for fourth place, a prize that the young Marc finally won, the smartest rider during the race’s final. “It was a very fought over race, as the bike didn’t run very fast. The engine need a little more but I felt comfortable, with a good set up for the suspension. Both the team and myself did a good job during the weekend, and the result proves it. We were in a big group, and it was hot. It was hard to hold on, but in the end I was smart, I studied Terol, and was able to overtake him when there were three corners left”.A suffered ninth place
Things didn’t start off very well at the GP for Tito Rabat. Although he improved his time from the morning to the afternoon by two seconds, Rabat was suffering due to the low performance of his KTM, that ended up putting him in a provisional sixteenth place after the first official. “Misano is a circuit that I really like. It has strong brakes, fast corners and I really enjoy myself, but during the first day it didn’t go too well. During the afternoon practice the differences between the KTM and the Aprilia were very notable. They were faster and we lost acceleration with respect to them. I had some problems with the chassis, that wouldn’t allow me to take corners as fast as I wanted to at some points of the circuit. I knew that we had to work hard thinking of Saturday”. Rabat’s sensations improved during the free practice in the morning, but a problem with a tyre placed him in nineteenth place even though he had improved Friday’s register.“In the morning things didn’t go badly. It wasn’t too hot and that was favourable to us. But in the afternoon the temperature rose and I had problems with my tyres. They slid a little and that made me slower. Also the difference compared to the Aprilia was even more noticeable than usual. I had to try and make a good start and push as hard as I could until the end if I wanted to have a good race”. Rabat pushed from the start, gaining positions little by little until he was close enough to the group where his mate Marc was riding in. Tito entered the fight for fourth position, a chance that was soon messed up because the tyres were excessively worn down by then. Because of this problem he had to conform with a final ninth place, after proving his courage on the bike. “The first laps were very intense, overtaking many riders. Then I settled down in a group, fighting the whole time, and suffering very much in order to push ahead. I managed to reach the riders that were in front of me, and I even was seventh, but at that point the bike began to slid. I kept on losing control of my back tyre and also, the bike didn’t run very fast. I ended up very tired due to the effort: during the last rounds I even got dizzy and I had to bring the pace down”.
The World Championship takes a break for a week, to later land in the United States, for it’s first visit to the famous Indianapolis circuit. This will be the beginning a series of long trips that will take the riders to Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
