QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West and a team official talk in the pit area of Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans before the qualifying practice of the French Grand Prix. West finished in the eleventh fastest in the qualifying session of the Moto2 category.
LE MANS, France: QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West moved up to eleventh place in qualifying for the French Grand Prix in the Moto2 category.
One part of the promising result was due to the determination of the 31-year-old Australian, who pulled all stops to ride around the problems with a lack of front end feel of his bike.
The other part of the improvement was due to a radical new set-up that QMMF Racing Team had tried during a private test session in Portugal.
The significant changes on West’s Speed Up bike include a different linkage for the rear suspension system, a longer swingarm and a different shock absorber, with noticeable changes to weight distribution and handling of the bike.
After initial hesitations to introduce these changes to Grand Prix racing without further evaluations, West convinced his team to give it a go yesterday and will now continue to try these evolution parts in the race today.
“I was thinking about the problems with our bike too much yesterday. In qualifying, I forced myself to forget all our issues and decided to throw myself and the bike into battle, just hoping that things would work out. I managed to improve my lap time and to get a decent starting position,” the Australian said.
West said the changes his team made in the bike had its effect in the final timings.
“The changes on the bike helped a little bit. They were not a massive improvement, but the bike wasn’t worse either, so it definitely was the right decision to convince my guys to give these new parts a go. It will be interesting to find out how the bike behaves with the new set-up if it rains in the race,”
West’s young team-mate Rafid Topan Sucipto was also upbeat after qualifying, having found the right braking points for the special Le Mans Circuit layout.
Determined to put up a fight in the race, the teenager from Jakarta now even hopes for wet conditions, where he sees a chance to score a good result thanks to his bravery.
“I feel good today. My riding style has improved, I was relaxed in qualifying and I went faster without making mistakes. I’m starting to like the Le Mans circuit very much, the hard-braking action suits my riding style even though it took me a while to find the right reference points. For tomorrow, I wouldn’t mind a wet race. I like rain, because whereas others hold back in slippery conditions, I continue to attack,” said Sucipto.The Peninsula
