NEWS 2010

Back

Difficult but profitable race

under tropical conditions in Malaysia

Sepang, Malaysia: Only five days after the departure from Japan the Forward Racing Team was back on track at Sepang for the Shell Advance Malaysian Motocycle Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the opening free practice was disturbed by the rain in the middle of the session.

Despite the difficult weather conditions, which did not allow the riders to take advantage of the whole sixty minutes, the final qualification saw Claudio Corti, who faces one more time an unknown track, in a fantastic twelfth position with a gap of less than one second from the Friday´s pole setter Alex DeAngelis. Good practice for Jules Cluzel as well, who ends up in thirteenth position, close to the top of the timesheet.

Both riders of the Forward Racing Team literally sweated their 12th and 13th position in the qualifying practice of the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix. Under these prohibitive conditions, with 37 degree air temperature and a very high humidity level, Claudio Corti ended up in the third row, confirming a steady improvement and maintaining a gap of just nine tenths from the Saturday´s pole position. His teammate, Jules Cluzel, has qualified immediately behind him in thirteenth position.

Positive race for the riders of the Forward Racing Team who were both able to score points. Convincing ninth place for Jules Cluzel who after a difficult weekend could find the right setting for the race, demonstrating once again his high determination. The result could have been even better if a little bit too inflamed battle had not prevented the twenty-one year old rider from Montlucon to keep in touch with Alex Debon and to fight until the end of the race for the fifth place. In any case, this ninth place brings important points for the general classification, where the French rider has been able to climb to the sixth place.

Good result for his team-mate Claudio Corti as well, who crosses the finish line in fifteenth position. However, the race of the young Italian rider did not start as expected, Claudio missed the start and even regaining several positions during the first lap he just passed twenty-fourth. Later he became protagonist of a great comeback ending up fifteenth position. With this performance, Claudio has shown his determination which, his team was confident he had, but which has been missing during this races. Another indicator of his improvement is that with Sunday´s race Claudio was able to score points for the fifth time in row, despite the difficult weather conditions.

Claudio Corti

15th position
"Today I made two mistakes during the race; the first at the start and the second in the first corner when I touched another rider what made me lose lots of positions, but before the end of the first lap I regained at least 5 places. Overall, it was one of my hardest races because of the tropical temperatures, I suffered a lot towards the end of the race and I almost burned my feet with the heat of the bike. That’s one of the reasons why I struggled a bit to maintain concentration during the final laps. However at the end I‘m happy because the gap to the fastest is not that big considering that I lost a lot of time at the beginning of the race. Now I cannot wait to arrive in Australia as I want to get finally the result the team and me deserve since several races."

Jules Cluzel

9th position
"I had a taff race, it took me a few laps to find my rhythm, but later I felt really confident on the bike. At the beginning there was a lot of confusion and hard fights for the positions furthermore I lost the contact with Debon, then I tried to close the gap but at the end I would have needed two more laps to catch them. It ‚s a shame because if I look at the lap times I could finish fifth. Anyway, now we go to Australia and I’m convinced to make a good race as it is one of my favorite tracks."

Moto2 World Standing 2010

Back