VALENCIA, Spain: QMMF Racing Team finished the Grand Prix season 2013 with a celebration in the team garage: Anthony West, the Australian star of the team, had thrilled more than 100,000 spectators around the famous Ricardo Tormo circuit with one of his most exciting races ever, storming from 21st place on the starting grid to eighth place at the chequered flag.
West passed his rivals almost everywhere on the track, braking into the corners, running higher corner speeds and using smarter lines. He showed that, at 32 years of age, he is still at the top of his game and that he is the right choice to lead QMMF Racing Team into the future.
Team-mate Rafid Topan Sucipto had also aimed at a top result in the final race of the season, but struggled with a lack of speed as well as a lack of grip.
The teenager from Jakarta tried to push anyway, but paid for his risks with a crash early on in the race.
“We tried to push Anthony towards better results, to believe in the bike and in himself. I think he did a great job, putting on a good show for everybody,” team owner and QMMF President Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah said.
“We are very happy to end the season with such a good result. This results boosts our motivation for next year,” Al Attiyah added.
“We will now meet with Anthony and discuss the options for next year. We would like to continue with him. A far as the second rider goes, we haven’t taken a decision yet. Our goal is to have a team with two strong riders in order to get the best possible results.”
West said staying relaxed was key.
“I felt a little bit better and tried to be more confident today, more than in other races. I just tried to relax and try to forget about the things that were holding me back,” West said.
“Eventually, it turned out to be quite a good race. I wanted to finish strong for the team and I’m glad I was able to show a good result. I wouldn’t have known what to do without the help of my crew throughout this year, because they always tried to keep me motivated and to keep me going, even when things looked difficult,” the Australian said.
“With this result, I am trying to pay them back for all the hard times I put them through in the season.
“Since QMMF let me continue next year, I also wanted to show them that I still can go fast. It’s a good way to finish and a good motivation for next year. In the qualifying, I struggled with traction, but for the race day, we changed something from the warm-up to the race, which was the right move.
“I also changed my braking style into some of the corners and together with the set-up change, it worked well in the race. I was able to brake hard within the limit of the front tyre, which I hadn’t been able to do for a while,” West said.
Team-mate Sucipto explained the reasons for his non-too- impressive .
“I had problems with the straight-line speed of my bike, it was much slower than in practice,” Sucipto said.
“I tried to make up for it pushing harder in the corners, but I didn’t have a lot of tyre grip, either. I learned a lot this year and I feel that I start to become more competitive, so I would really like to continue in Moto2 next year. I am convinced that I have the ability to get good results,” he added.
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