JEREZ, Spain: QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West scored a hard-fought twelfth place at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Australian not only struggled with a lack of front end feel and a lack of rear grip on his Speed Up bike, but also had a frustrating encounter with rival Simone Corsi, who pushed West off the line early on in the race.
Even though, West was happy with the overall result, especially since he and his team learned more about the remaining set-up issues with his Speed Up prototype that will be addressed in a two-day-test in Portugal next week.
The race of West’s young team-mate Rafid Topan Sucipto was also full of unexpected events.
When the 18-year-old from Jakarta, Indonesia, got lapped towards the end of the race, he didn’t realise that Pol Espargaro was right behind him and held the Spaniard up for three corners. Espargar0 still managed to get ahead of his immediate opponent Nakagami to score third place, but Sucipto nevertheless went to his garage straight after the race to apologize.
“I didn’t have the best start, but I was able to get back into a similar position from where I started,” West said later.
“I was tenth or eleventh on the first lap and I felt comfortable enough on the bike to try and catch the two guys in front of me,” the Australian said.
“I was just getting into the rhythm of the race when Corsi passed me. It was not a clean move, he pushed me wide off the track and as a consequence, I lost contact to the two guys in front of me. The whole race I could see them, they were just there, but I couldn’t catch them. It was the best pace I could do with the bike because it didn’t feel as strong as I expected it to be. I really struggled a lot,” he added.
“I don’t have enough grip on the corner exits, which is why Tom got me in the end – he just opened the throttle and pulled away. We know what our issues are, which is why we are going to test in Portugal (today and tomorrow), trying to fix them and to return stronger at Le Mans,”he said.
Sucipto, who finished in 28th place, said: “When Takaaki Nakagami came from behind, I realised what was happening and I let him pass, but I was unaware of Pol Espargaro being so close as well. It was an unintentional mistake not to let him overtake straight away, so I went to his garage after the race and said sorry.” THE PENINSULA
