LE MANS - QUALIFYING 

2017-05-20 06:34
Saturday’s French Grand Prix qualifying saw the first dry session of the weekend for the Moto3 field, where SIC Racing Team riders concluded the day in 19th [Adam] and 27th [Ayumu] place.

Following a successful final practice in the wet this morning, where Adam Norrodin and Ayumu Sasaki finished in 10th and 11th place respectively, the SIC Racing Team duo looked set for a solid qualifying at the French circuit.

With the sun drying out the 4.2km track for the first time this weekend, Norrodin and Sasaki got straight to work dialling in the set-up of their Honda machines.

Eighteen-year-old Adam Norrodin was looking in good form as he held onto ninth position with ten minutes to go, until an unfortunate crash in the final moments saw the Malaysian rider drop down the order as the chequered flag came out.
Teammate Ayumu Sasaki suffered a similar fate. Struggling to find his rhythm and generate enough heat in his tyres, the Moto3 rookie crashed out on the last lap, ending his chance to better his time and placing him on the ninth row for tomorrow’s twenty four lap race.

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager

“It’s been quite a stressful qualifying today as it was the first time we had fully dry conditions, so it was a bit difficult to know what tyres would work best and if the set up was good enough. We started with both riders on a hard rear tyre and neither felt confident with it, so we changed to a soft tyre instead; this helped a lot.

Adam immediately improved and posted a quick time on his own. He was more confident and was able to hold onto ninth place for quite a while. For his last run we put a new soft in the rear but unfortunately there was a lot of waiting in the group he was in, so the tyre cooled down too much and as soon as he tried to push he crashed. It’s a real shame for Adam because he was looking good and the bike was working well. It’s not too disastrous starting from P19 because we know he can make a good start. The times are close too, so I think it’s very achievable for him to be in the top ten tomorrow.

Ayumu was similar to Adam and we used the same tyre strategy for him, with a new soft tyre in the rear at the end. Unfortunately he also had the same issue with his tyre temperature dropping too much and he crashed before he could improve his time. It will be a tough start for Ayumu from 27th on the grid, so he will have a lot of work to do.
We must get dialled in during warm up and focus on battling hard in the race. Both riders will have to fight.”


#7 ADAM NORRODIN

“FP3 went really well and we ended up P10, even though the conditions were wet. Qualifying was our first dry session this weekend but I had a good feeling and felt prepared. I focused a lot on my riding. We started with a hard tyre in the rear but unfortunately this didn’t work so we changed to a soft. Immediately I could feel the difference; it was so much better. I was able to get straight up to speed and was in the top ten until the final ten minutes of the session. As we went out for the last run on new soft tyres I was feeling really comfortable and confident but then I got caught up in a group that were not pushing straight away, so on my first flying lap I lost the front in turn seven and crashed. I’m disappointed because we could have qualified a lot higher today but on the positive side the time is not so far away and I know I have a good set-up for the race. I just need to make a strong start and push hard.”

#71 AYUMU SASAKI

“In this morning’s FP3 the conditions were not good again but I felt good on the bike and finished in 11th place. In qualifying for the first time, it was dry. I wasn’t completely comfortable with my set-up from the start so I wasn’t on the pace. We made some changes but then it started to rain, so we waited for it to ease off. In the last ten minutes I was still struggling to find a good rhythm but I knew my position was not good so I just told myself that I had to push hard, whether I crashed or not. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened. It will be very tough starting from so far down the grid tomorrow but we will try our best to improve my feeling in morning warm up, then it’s down to me to fight hard in the race.”

Source: SIC Racing Team

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