QMMF’s West battles hard for 22nd place

QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah (L) with Elena Rossel and other members of the team in Catalunya on Sunday

Team QMMF rider Anthony West battled his way to 22nd place at the Grand Prix of Catalunya and came to the same conclusions as in the practice sessions: His team engineers had managed to significantly improve the chassis with their own development parts, but the engine was still too slow to confirm the progress with a strong result. But since the scheduled change of the engine happened after the race, West is hopeful to have more horsepower and to be in much better shape at the next round in England.His Spanish team-mate Elena Rosell concluded a difficult weekend with a safe race finish. The only lady racer in the GP world championship fell in the warm-up practice session on Sunday morning, but rode on with her usual determination and is now also hoping for a change of luck in the next Grand Prix. “I had a good start and managed to pass many people in the corner sections, but as soon as I got to the straights, I really felt our engine problem again. Our bike is not very fast anyway, but here at this Grand Prix, it was worse than usual,” said West.“ All the other riders pulled away easily, I couldn’t even stay in their slipstream. I would fight, re-pass them in the corners and make up some positions, only to get caught again on the following straight. I couldn’t stay with the group I was fighting in at the beginning and the gap kept increasing, which was very disappointing for me. We now have an engine change for the next race and I hope this one will be faster.”Rossel rued her crash. “In the warm-up practice this morning, we tried yet another setting on the bike. Unfortunately, the rear stepped out under brakes before one of the corners and I crashed. After that, I didn’t have the best of races,” she said.“I felt bad and it was difficult for me to hang on.”