German GP – Quotes Friday
125cc
1st Julián Simón 1.28.594 (15 laps): “the truth is that we’ve taken a lot of positives out of today because this is a circuit I like a lot and I was highly motivated to do well. I was quickly able to tell that I was going to be able to enjoy riding the bike here and I was comfortable form the start, even though we still have some things to work on – in particular with the engine. We need to focus on adjusting the gear ratio to improve the acceleration and get out of the corners quicker. Hopefully the weather is better to us tomorrow so that we can everything sorted for the race. I’m happy with our performance in the wet because I did two laps and went pretty quick. I feel good one way or the other so we’ll wait and see what we can do tomorrow. I’d like to get the work done tomorrow that will allow us to fight for victory on Sunday because it is very important to hang on to the championship lead over these next two races.”
3rd Bradley Smith 1.29.423 (19 laps): “It was amazing how the conditions changed in just a matter of minutes. The good thing is that even though we didn’t have much time we were able to test things in the wet and in the dry. It is also good to have a basic idea about which direction to go in tomorrow, when we’ll be working a little more on the setting of the engine. It is a slow process so we have to work hard on making sure everything is right, without taking any risks because if not the race will be upon us before we know it. I’m happy because I know the team will be working hard on the bike tonight so that we only have small things to work on tomorrow.”
5th Sergio Gadea 1.29.776 (17 laps):“In general I’m very happy although we had a small carburetion problem in the dry – the bike was cutting out at the end of the straight, and it wouldn’t rev, especially at the top end. We were working hard on it and it seems as though we found a solution just before it started to rain. I felt comfortable in the wet and in the dry and I think we have a good base set-up, we just need to squeeze a bit more out of the engine now. I’m not obsessing about Sunday’s result – just making sure we work hard over the weekend as we have done so far and I know that will be enough to ensure we’re at the front in the race.”
250cc
5th Mike Di Meglio 1.25.493 (25 laps): “I am happy because I’ve spent the last couple of weeks relaxing and trying to prepare myself as well as possible to come here with my batteries fully charged and so far everything is going well. This is a tough circuit with the 250 but thanks to my mechanics, who did an incredible job, I was able to get a good feeling straight away. As the laps went by I found my reference points and worked out the characteristics of this track. The mechanics were on top of me throughout the session trying to find a chassis set-up that made the Aprilia feel as comfortable as possible. The engine worked well so basically as long as the weather is good tomorrow we’ll try our best to perfect the set-up for Sunday.”
8th Aleix Espargaró 1.25.771 (26 laps): “It was important for me to get a few laps in at the start of the session in order to get a feel for this circuit but the telemetry wasn’t working well and I had to do short runs, with several pit stops to try and solve the problem. I couldn’t get any rhythm together and when I did go out I got held up, so it was difficult. Thanks to the magnificent work by the mechanics we worked it out in the end and I was able to set four good laps. The truth is that once we found the solution everything was fantastic and I’m happy because I got my pace together and those four laps are the ones that count. I was a bit lost for the first part of the session but it’s fair to say I’m getting used to riding the 250 again. After a day of adaptation today, tomorrow will be when we really get to work. You spend virtually the whole time leaned over at this circuit so it will be important to get the Aprilia turning well.”
11th Álvaro Bautista 1.25.836 (30 laps): “We usually have set-up problems at this circuit and today I tried a couple of new configurations, one of which I like quite a lot. Being a second off the pace is a big gap but it could have been worse so we have to stay optimistic and be prepared to improve tomorrow. Sachsenring is a difficult circuit in that the faster you try to ride the slower you end up going, and you find yourself with more and more work to do. Let’s wait and see if we can improve things tomorrow, mainly on the front end. The key to it is in T2 and if we can improve through there we will be much closer. We knew things wouldn’t be easy here and now we’re even more determined to work at it tomorrow. I have confidence in the team and we’ll all give 100% to improve the set-up of the bike for the race.”
