Technical problem stops Rosell in final qualifying of the season

After a strong performance in this morning’s free practice session, Valencia’s lady racer Elena Rosell was very confident to get a fast lap time in the afternoon and to impress fans, family and friends on her home circuit of Cheste with a good grid position. But only three laps after the start of the qualifying session, she ran into a strange gearbox problem at the end of the main straight and crashed due to the lack of engine brake. Since the bike was damaged to the point where she couldn’t continue, she had to settle for a disappointing 33rd position on the grid for tomorrow’s Moto2 race.

Elena Rosell – 33rd in 1.40,063 “We did very well this morning in the third free qualifying session and we still had good margin to go faster. Therefore I was really motivated and ready to push hard for a good lap time in qualifying this afternoon. I really wanted to be well clear off the last places in my last qualifying session in front of my home crowd. But on only my third lap, I ran into a strange situation at the end of the main straight. I was braking for the first lefthand corner as usual, but when I wanted to shift down, I ended up in neutral. I couldn’t shift down, I couldn’t shift back up, either, so I found myself completely without engine brake. I still tried to slow the bike down enough to make the corner, but it was impossible. In the end, the steering closed and I crashed. It was unfortunate that the bike continued on and smashed into the tyre wall. I wasn’t able to continue the session and I was upset, because I am sure that I could have done well. I got up this morning with the attitude of just enjoying this last race of the season in front of my family and friends and the lap times came in quite easily. There is a strong likelihood of rainfall tomorrow, but I still hope to do well in the race, for myself but also for my team that has helped me a lot this year!”

Source: QMMF Racing Press Release