QMMF Racing Team rider Rafid Topan Sucipto who finished fifth in the qualifying session in the Moto2 category at the Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix in Motegi, Japan, yesterday.
MOTEGI, Japan: Topan means typhoon in Indonesian, and QMMF Racing Team rider Rafid Topan Sucipto lived up to his name like never before when he stormed to fifth place in yesterday’s unforgettable qualifying session for the Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix.
All three free practice sessions on the Twin Ring Motegi had been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, with fog on Friday grounding an ambulance helicopter and with heavy rain flooding the track yesterday.
On a track where he had never ridden before, Sucipto was immediately within the group of top riders when the engines could finally be started for the one and only session yesterday.
Sucipto stunned the audience holding second place for a while, but also when he kept fighting back whilst the pace got quicker toward the end of qualifying. Despite the tricky track conditions with a wet tarmac that eventually began to dry up, it was by far his best performance since he joined QMMF Racing Team at the beginning of this year. “This is the first year for me to concentrate fully on 600cc four-stroke racing and to compete in the GP’s straight away was very difficult for me. But now I am starting to understand what Moto2 racing is all about. I had a good race last week at Australia, where I was able to fight with a group of other riders for the first time and this boosted my confidence for the Grand Prix here in Japan. I managed to get a good grid position. My aim for the race is to stick to the top riders as long as possibly in order to learn as much as possible in my preparation for next year,” said Sucipto.
Team-mate Anthony West also seemed to have the pace for a very strong qualifying result, holding top ten positions in the early stages of qualifying, especially when the track was still fully wet.
Later on, after a tyre change, the Australian rain king ran into some unexpected trouble and partially lost his good feeling for the Speed Up prototype to eventually settle for 18th place on the grid.
The Peninsula
