Qatar’s Nasser Al Malki takes a bend on his bike at Motorland Aragon, a motorsport race track located near Alcaniz, Spain, yesterday. Al Malki and Saeed Al Sulaiti are taking part in the Spanish Championship, a platform considered a must for budding bikers from around the world.
Alcaniz, Spain: QMMF have arrived for the second stage of the Spanish Championship, a weekend which is going to be special because the Moto2 class, where the QMMF riders take part, will have two races today.
It has been a very difficult day but the two riders - Nasser Al Malki and Saeed Al Sulaiti - look forward to improving their times in the races.
They feel comfortable with the track but the cold and strong wind made very difficult to achieve good grid starting positions but, in any case, they are both very brave and they have now their mind focused in today’s races.
“Today was so difficult because it is being a very windy weekend,” Al Malki said yesterday.
“Our bike is not easy to ride in normal conditions and now it is even more difficult. I tried to do my best and I have reached my best lap time of the last year’s race but it is quite hard,” he added.
“I came here thinking that I could improve it but with these conditions it’s very difficult. We will see tomorrow in the race because I usually push harder in the race and I hope to have a good result here. I feel now better than last year, I have more experience so I will try to be in the front tomorrow.
“I want to thank all the QMMF team and to my mechanics, they are supporting me all the way.
“Also thanks to Anthony West, who is always helping me to improve,” the 27-year-old Qatari said.
Al Sulaiti said he was enjoying his second dig at the Spanish Championship.
“My first race at the Spanish Championship was last year in here and, as it was my first Moto2 race, now I feel like I’m riding here for the first time,” Al Saulaiti said.
“In last year’s race everything was new and now I struggled to improve my lap times, but it is not easy.
“In the first qualifying I did just four laps and my best lap time was over 3 seconds faster than yesterday’s fastest lap.
“Unfortunately I had a crash and it prevented me to continue the session,” the Qatari added.
“Then I was waiting to improve in the second session because I knew that I can do more but the strong winds make it very difficult and I didn’t have good feelings with the front tire.
“The whole team has worked very hard to find a good set up and I am very happy to work with them.
“Tomorrow we will be stronger and faster than today and I hope we can reach the points positions. It is not going to be easy but we have two races so we have two chances to achieve it,” Al Sulaiti said.
Seasoned campaigner West, who helps out the Qatari riders when he is not competing in Moto2 championship, admitted the conditions made riding tough.
“Conditions were very difficult here today; with this high wind is not easy to ride and also the cold temperatures are not helping them,” West said.
“Nasser achieves to repeat the same lap time than last year so I think it is great for him today. I also believe that with better conditions he could drop a second and he has to prove it in the race,” the Australian rider added.
“Unfortunately Saeed crashed after four laps in the first qualifying and it destroys his confident.
“In the second qualifying he wasn’t riding like in the morning so he needs to get his confident back,” West said.
“In general these conditions are very difficult for both riders.
“There are two races tomorrow so Nasser and Saeed have the chances to take a big step forward but physically it is going to be hard for all the riders,” West said.
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