NEWS 2010

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Wind and rain were the protagonists in Portugal

Estoril, Portugal: The Estoril circuit, which hosted last weekend the penultimate round of the 2010 World Championship, welcomed the „Circus“ in the morning with flood and wind gusts, which made not only fly away umbrellas, but also several riders, including Jules Cluzel. In fact, the young French rider of the Forward Racing Team was protagonist in a crash caused by aquaplaning in braking during the first practice. In the afternoon the weather conditions had not been indulgent, however Cluzel was able to regain confidence after the crash of the morning session, and Claudio could get in touch with the new track.

The real protagonist of this racing weekend was unfortunately the weather, which has dominated all the practice sessions, preventing teams from working accurately. In the roulette of setups, some teams have figured out the right way, others did not. Even the grid, after canceling the qualifying session, was a very curious one, with the top riders starting from the back and the normally slower ones from the first rows, as it was the fastest personal time of the combined free practice to decide the position on the starting grid and just a few riders risked to make several laps with slicks on Friday.

That’s why Claudio Corti had to face the race from the fifth row and Jules Cluzel found himself in 27th position on grid. The young French rider did, as usually, a brilliant start, but struggled a bit to find his race pace so that he was not able to show one of his amazing comebacks, slowed down by a lack of rear grip as the telemetry confirmed, he finished in 17th position.

Claudio however, after starting cautiously effort to find the limit, since he never had the chance to face the track with dry conditions, but during the race he improved his pace constantly catching up the riders in front of him and coming closer to the points, when a tape of a radiator from another rider stuck between his brake lever and his glove, creating him serious difficulties and allowed him to pass the finish line only as 19th.

Claudio Corti

19th position
„Today was a very difficult race because my first laps on this track in dry conditions, arrived just in the race. At the beginning the track was still wet in a few points and it took me some time before I found my pace when I caught up the riders in front of me and I nearly reached the points, I was slowed down by a piece of tape which lost someone in front of me and it stuck between the brake lever and my glove making me lose concentration and time. When I got rid of it I already had lost the contact with the group. It’s a pity that now I have just one race left to show how much I learned during this season.“

Jules Cluzel

17th position
„I’m really sad, I would have liked to take home some points for the championship standing even starting from the back. Unfortunately I had no rear grip during the whole race that’s why I had to be very careful because I did not want to crash out. At the end I was not able to overtake the remaining adversaries that separated me from some points, but I hope it will be better in Valencia, where I want to finish the season with a brilliant race.“

Moto2 World Standing 2010

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