QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah handed over the second-place trophy to Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa on Sunday.
Agencies/Sachsenring, Germany
QMMF Racing Team rider Julian Simon, after an impressive ninth place finish at the German Grand Prix on Sunday, said he was happy with what has been a promising first half of the season.
Simon is tenth in the Moto2 standings.
At Sachsenring, the 28-year-old Spaniard started from 15th place on the grid and struggled with the new chassis on his Speed Up prototype on the opening laps, but got faster and faster as the race went on, making up six positions in the last nine laps of the race.
Teammate Anthony West crashed out on the fifth lap
“I am happy. I had a good start, but I struggled on the first few laps because with our specific setting of the bike it was difficult to take tight cornering lines,” Simon said.
“After about ten laps, I decided to push regardless and to take a lot of risks. As the race went on, the bike also started to feel better and my lap times got quicker and quicker. On the last nine laps, I gained six positions and I am happy with our end result.
“A top ten position is good for us and I am also happy about the fact that our new chassis showed its potential, especially in the second half of the race.
“I want to say thanks to the team who worked really well all weekend long and I also want to thank QMMF. We had a promising first half of the season, where we have been able to round off with another top ten result.”
Australian West, also determined to turn his luck around in the race, started 18th but struggled with straight-line speed and the cornering of his bike at the same time. With 24 laps to go, he lost the front trying to pass another rider and crashed out of the race.
“I took a tighter line trying to pass the rider in front of me and lost the front. I was on the throttle and tried to make the bike turn, but it didn’t want to turn, which is a problem that I had all weekend long,” West said after the race.
“We also had a little problem with speed on the straights in comparison to the other riders, which has to do with the new quick-shifter we mounted on Saturday. It works properly and the bike doesn’t shift back on its own any more, but the gear changes continue to be a little slower. I had three riders passing me on the straight in the first lap. I felt that I was stronger than them and I tried to make up time in the corners, but it is really difficult to pass on this track. Then, in only the fifth lap, I crashed.”
