No easy day in the rain for Simon

 In Moto2

The Moto2 class was met with some typical British weather on Friday at Silverstone, as the category worst hit by the appearance of rain at the new track. 125cc was dry, MotoGP was only affected in the last five minutes of their opening session, but the 600cc prototype series was a completely wet practice for the duration. Starting at 3.15pm local time, the riders emerged from their garages to undertake their first wet laps with their machines and have their first meeting with the Silverstone surface, always with the forecasted dry Sunday conditions in the back of their minds. There were, of course, various crashes, although the new run-off areas presented a larger number of fallers.

Mapfre Aspar riders Julián Simón and Mike Di Meglio’s experience was no different to that of their rivals, as they were obliged to go out and learn the circuit in less than ideal circumstances. They rolled their sleeves up and went to work, trying to put down as many laps as possible. Both rode with a certain caution in order to stay upright, and managed to ride enough to note that Silverstone was favourable to their abilities. Di Meglio placed 17th and Simón 20th in a largely inconsequential timesheet, with the hope being that the sun will be shining for qualifying on Saturday afternoon and the race itself on Sunday. Both will look to challenge for the front row tomorrow.

20th Julián Simón 2.31.015 (16 laps): “Today’s session was all about getting to know the track and starting to fine tune the Suter to suit it. The rain didn’t help us, but at least we were able to work. I found a few positive things despite the water on track, and I can see right away that Silverstone is a track that I like. I found a stumbling block on the final turn, where I am losing a bit of time and where I hope to improve tomorrow. I am pretty far off the top times, but today’s session wasn’t about that. I am calm and know that tomorrow we will be back up there after adapting today. It was also my first wet session with this bike and, although I usually go fast in the wet, it wasn’t the best day for me. Let’s hope that tomorrow the weather improves and we can adjust the bike to a dry setting in order to be ready for the race, in which presumably we won’t have rain.”

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