Rain king West fourth on day one in Jerez

Under the watchful eyes of FIM vice president and team owner Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, Anthony West presented QMMF Racing Team with its best ever practice result so far. The 30-year-old Australian, who is re-known for his incredible speed and skills in wet conditions, took fourth place in the wet first free practice session on Friday morning and repeated this performance in even trickier conditions in the afternoon on Thursday. Heroic Spanish team-mate Elena Rosell, who battles with a pelvis injury and an inflamed right shoulder, also stood her ground within the fierce competition of the Moto2 category. From 28th in the morning session, she improved to a promising 25th place in the afternoon, which put her in 30th position in the combined standings.“We did some changes to the bike after the season-opening race at Qatar, and Anthony now shows the true potential of this bike”, said al-Attiyah. “Even though we still need to improve the bike in a similar way for dry conditions, today’s result is a milestone for our team. We appreciate Anthony’s support and the work he does, because results like today really boost the confidence of the entire team, including his team-mate Elena. She is doing a good job and she is improving day by day!”West said he is enjoying the challenge.“So far, everything is going well. The bike is new to me and I hardly had a chance to test, so we knew that it would be difficult in the first races and that we needed to learn as much as we possibly could in the shortest possible time,” he said.The Moriwaki bike is very different to the Moto2 bikes I rode previously, but I like new challenges and I think it’s fun to look for a way out of a difficult situation when you are surrounded by good people and when everybody works well together like in the QMMF team. We made some big changes to the bike after the first race at Qatar and we went the right direction. I have a good feeling with the bike now and I am confident that we can make big improvements over the next races. The conditions today were really tricky, wet and dry, but it was fun to ride!”Rosell said rain made life difficult for her.“This afternoon, the conditions were really difficult with the track being half dry, but this morning, things went really well. It was my first time in the rain, and lap by lap, I managed to build up my confidence in this kind of weather,” she said.“It was strange in the afternoon, with a narrow line drying up and then a drizzle starting again, but at least I managed to get experience under all kinds of conditions, which could well be the same again on race day. I am happy I brought the bike back in one piece because it would have been easy to make a mistake! Apart from that I am recovering well from my pelvis fracture. “It is much better than during the first race in Qatar, even though I have to move more on the bike than others because I am not as tall and this is still painful at times. I am suffering more from the shoulder inflammation that I have since the Qatar Grand Prix. Riding on a wet track helped me today because you don’t need to use as much force as in dry conditions!”