Riders and officials of the QMMF Racing Team pose for a photograph after the Valenciana Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo racetrack in Cheste, Valencia, Spain on Sunday.
Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) team rider Julian Simon rode a fantastic final Grand Prix of the season, holding fifth and sixth place for almost the entire race in front of his enthusiastic fans at Valencia.
An unlucky crash with just four laps to go dashed all hopes for what would have been his best result of the season.
Nevertheless, Simon managed to continue his ride and saved 23rd place with his usual never-give-up attitude.
Team-mate Xavier Simeon had shared Simon’s confidence before the start of the race, but wasn’t able to match his own impressive performance from the warm-up session on Sunday morning and finished the race in 16th place.
The season final in Valencia also marks the end of seven fantastic years in the Moto2 world championship for QMMF Racing Team.
Both riders and all team members thanked the federation of Qatar for an exciting time with many strong results and said good-bye with a smile and the hope to get back together again some time in the future.
Xavier Simeon said; "I am very disappointed with my performance. All weekend long, my bike was very good and after the warm-up this morning, we made another step with the setting. I was able to ride fast with a very used tyre, which I hadn’t been able to do before. But for whatever reason, I couldn’t match that pace again in the race."
"In the opening laps, I couldn’t attack the way I would have liked to, because my riding was too smooth and not aggressive enough. This conditioned my race, because after that, I never could find that little bit extra in terms of speed and lap time to catch the group in front of me," Simeon said.
"I want to thank QMMF for giving me the opportunity to ride for them and I want to thank the entire team that has done a great job all year,” he added.
Julian Simon said; "I had a really good start and a string of really good opening laps. I was concentrated to the max and for a long time I also was in control physically, because I knew it was a long and demanding race after my back injury. Only in the last six laps, I lost my rhythm a little bit in the battle with Sam Lowes, who was running in fifth position, because my left leg and my left arm started to hurt because the strain on the left side is especially high on this track."
"With four laps to go, I braked hard into turn eight and I lost the front when I got off the brakes entering the corner. I couldn’t avoid the crash and it’s a shame that I wasn’t able to finish this season in the position I was in up to that point and that I didn’t get a good result in a race that was so important to me and also such a nice homage to Luis Salom. But now it’s time to think about the future and about the opportunities that might arise,” Simon said.
