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QMMF rookie rider Sucipto happy to finish in Moto2 race
QMMF rookie rider Sucipto happy to finish in Moto2 race
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Having finished the race, QMMF Racing Team rider Rafid Topan Sucipto was pleased with his performance in the Moto2 category of the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on Sunday. |
The Indonesian rookie finished 26th in the event, which was won by Tuenti HP 40’s Spanish rider Pol Esparagaro, but said that he has taken valuable experience from the event.
“I’m happy because my target for this race was to finish the race and this is exactly what I achieved,” he said. “I keep learning lap by lap, corner by corner and I am getting faster step by step. I hope I can step up a little higher at the next race in Texas!”
Sucipto’s experienced teammate Anthony West, meanwhile, rued missing out on a potential top-ten finish for the team’s home race.
“The bike was working perfectly in the race, the chassis set-up was at a 100 per cent. But there was a problem with the engine. It was so slow that I couldn’t stay with anybody on the straights. Even when I was right at the rear wheel of others and having their slipstream coming on to the straight, I couldn’t hang on, they would just pull away,” the Australian said.
“After the race, the mechanics found out that the engine overheated on the grid, which indicates that maybe a gasket blew, because there is no way in this temperature that the engine could overheat without a mechanical problem, since I am not one of the riders that revs the engine much sitting on the grid. The temperature was at 100 degree all the time and when that happens the electronic mapping puts additional fuel into the engine and you lose power. I was trying to override it because I felt ten times better than everyone else in the corners, but eventually I went a bit too hard and tossed it away!”