Okay – not *that* bad; it at least happened after the chequered flag, but – unlike Assen – the last time when Alvaro disappeared under the arse of his own bike, when I was able to justly blame Hiro – this time I can’t really point the finger anywhere but at the Batster himself. Embarrassed giggles in the post-race press conference, but possibly not exactly the same reaction from Mr Aspar himself…?
“The only good session this weekend was the race. Fortunately everything worked out okay for us when it came to the crucial moment. It took just two laps for the tyres to degenerate, and that was a warning for me not to push things and look out for points. The weekend was a tough one for us, because we never had the right setup. I could have tried to follow Simoncelli and Pasini, but it looked to be too risky and I concentrated on Aoyama instead. I’ve closed the gap on him in the standings, and if we continue like this we can catch him. I left it until the warmup to choose my setting in the suspension, and I didn’t have as much chance in this race, so I’m happy with third.”
Pos. Rider Team Total time Gap
1 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 41′06.490
2 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 41′07.174 0.684
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 41′10.871 4.381
4 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 41′15.236 8.746
5 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 41′16.211 9.721
6 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 41′17.360 10.870
7 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 41′22.129 15.639
8 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 41′24.901 18.411
9 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 41′25.053 18.563
10 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 41′26.448 19.958
11 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 41′26.574 20.084
12 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 41′37.122 30.632
13 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 41′43.608 37.118
14 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 42′23.974 1′17.484
15 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 42′31.174 1′24.684
16 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 42′31.622 1′25.132
17 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 42′53.415 1′46.925
18 Aitor RODRIGUEZ Matteoni Racing 42′58.955 1′52.465
19 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 43′06.284 1′59.794
Not classified
8 Bastien CHESAUX SWI Racing Team Germany Honda 25′36.289 8 Lap
6 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens Aprilia 19′02.327 11 Lap
25 Alex BALDOLINI ITA WTR San Marino Team Aprilia 13′54.614 14 Lap
54 Toby MARKHAM GBR C&L Racing Aprilia 2′19.072 19 Lap
Not finished 1st lap
12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte Aprilia
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Aprilia
Alvaro starts 8th on the grid… He found his best setting ten minutes before the end of the free practice – but also had a difficult afternoon, losing the front end of his Aprilia on turn five just minutes before the end of the session, leaving him on the asphalt and unable to get the bike back out in time for a final attempt at pole position. Luckily he suffered no injuries in the lowside crash, and will aim to challenge for the lead from eight on the grid. He predicts a tough battle on Sunday, in which he will be going all-out for points as the title race heats up and after losing ground to Aoyama in the standings.
“The crash was totally unexpected, as I had already put two laps on the new tyres. I got into turn five and everything seized up, causing me to fall. This morning we did various tests on the front suspension and found some things that worked, then we continued with the front end in the afternoon but lost our way.
The changes in place at the end of the practice are the ones that I would favour for the race and I am sure that if we had done more laps with this setting then we would have done better today. We will go back to it tomorrow in the warmup and try again. In the race I wil have to start well in order to be at the front and fight like I have done this season. I will have to take risks if necessary, because I can’t afford to lose more points.”
Pos | Rider | Team | Lap time | Gap
1 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 2′01.611
2 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′01.961 0.350
3 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 2′02.064 0.453
4 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 2′02.386 0.775
5 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 2′02.426 0.815
6 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 2′02.543 0.932
7 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 2′02.561 0.950
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 2′02.748 1.137
9 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′02.768 1.157
10 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2′02.811 1.200
11 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 2′02.899 1.288
12 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 2′02.921 1.310
13 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 2′02.932 1.321
14 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 2′02.997 1.386
15 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 2′03.596 1.985
16 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 2′03.951 2.340
17 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 2′04.100 2.489
18 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2′05.493 3.882
19 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 2′06.350 4.739
20 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 2′06.571 4.960
21 Bastien CHESAUX Racing Team Germany 2′07.088 5.477
22 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 2′07.130 5.519
23 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 2′08.362 6.751
24 Aitor RODRIGUEZ Matteoni Racing 2′08.600 6.989
“After two weeks off my Aprilia this session was useful for checking that everything was in its right place. I am not worried, because we are up front despite some problems with front end chattering. The suspension wasn’t absorbing the bumps like it should have, so we worked on that. If things go well then that will be resolved tomorrow. We don’t have a setting that I like above all the others, but I’m sure that we will find one. We are more than half a second off the top, but I am confident that tomorrow we will catch up. My elbow is fine and I can work at 100%.”
