Motourage

FTR Moto is looking for more Moto2 success in this Sunday’s seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, Spain with FIMMCO Speed Up Team rider Andrea Iannone looking to become the first rider to win three races in the inaugural year of the 600cc four-stroke class.

Iannone has taken the FTR M210 to wins in Italy and last Saturday in Holland and sits fourth in the World Championship, 33 points behind with 11 races to go. Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team M210 rider Alex Debon will race in his home GP despite suffering a shoulder injury at Assen last week.

Iannone’s FIMMCO Speed Up team-mate Gabor Talmacsi will be looking to improve on his 10th place in the World Championship while Czech Republic rider Karel Abraham continues to adapt to the M210 after his career-best ninth place finish at Assen on his Cardion AB Motoracing FTR machine.

FTR Moto's M210 Moto2 machine has been successful all over Europe in 2010

In addition to the Catalunya Grand Prix, FTR Moto has a presence at other major events this weekend – all in addition to retaining its focus on the CEV Spanish Championship and the Kev Coghlan - Monlau Competicion program and today’s test session at the new Motorland Aragon circuit.

The FTR M210 will make its debut at a British Superbike Championship round this weekend when Scottish rider Coghlan will perform demonstration laps on his Silverstone Grand Prix wild card machine at the Knockhill sixth round on Saturday and Sunday.

Also this weekend, the FTR Moto2 race machine will make an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the Dunlop Live Arena. The event, held at Goodwood Estate in Sussex, Eng, runs today through Sunday and features a historic-vehicle hill climb, expo and celebration of motorsports.

FTR’s Steve Bones:
“From heading into the first round of the World Championship in Qatar less than three months ago with three riders we’ve now got four riders on the M210 and two more teams in discussions about running the FTR machine.
We’ve become the first Moto2 constructor to contest the Isle of Man TT races and this weekend’s activities probably typify just how far the FTR Moto name has come in such a short space of time. Obviously we’d like further success at World Championship level but success in the Spanish Championship also remains crucial to our machine and rider development program.
We hope that the BSB fans enjoy the sight and sound of the FTR at Knockhill this weekend and I’m sure the first ever Moto2 machine to be present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed will attract a lot of attention. We also need to say thanks to our various partners for their support in all of these activities.”

FTR Moto and the FIMMCO Speed Up Team enjoyed a second win of the year in the inaugural Moto2 World Championship as sensational Italian rider Andrea Iannone repeated his victory of three weeks ago at Mugello, Italy by dominating today’s sixth round at Assen in Holland.

Iannone grabbed the lead a third of the way into the opening lap then extended his lead to 9.0s by lap 17 of the 24-lap race. He eventually crossed the finish line with a winning margin of 4.4s on the M210 and is now up to fourth place in the World Championship, just 33 points behind leader Toni Elias – runner-up at Assen today.

“The win today feels better than my win in Mugello,” said Iannone who, as he did in Mugello, started the race today from pole position. He added: “It was a tough race; I had to keep pushing hard to keep the lead. I have to thank the mechanics and Luca Boscoscuro. Now we must keep focused and do the same job next week at the Catalunya round.”

Czech Republic rider Karel Abraham enjoyed a career-best finish of ninth place after being locked in a battle for seventh on his Cardion AB Motoracing Team FTR M210. Abraham’s seven points for ninth moved him up six places in the Championship table to 22nd.

Iannone’s FIMMCO Speed Up team-mate Gabor Talmacsi bounced back from a heavy fall in qualifying on Friday to take his fifth points-scoring finish from six rounds with 13th place. Talmacsi sits joint ninth in the World Championship with luckless Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team rider Alex Debon who was unable to start after a qualifying crash on Friday.

FTR’s Steve Bones commented: “Andrea was sensational today, as he was in Mugello. All three of our machines that started finished in the points and Karel Abraham’s performance – in only his fourth race on the machine – was superb and he was the fastest rider through the speed trap at 163mph so we’re leaving Holland and heading to Spain with plenty of optimism.”

Fimmco Speed Up rider Andrea Iannone is celebrating a second pole position in three rounds as the Italian recorded the fastest time in qualifying for Saturday’s sixth round of the Moto2 World Championship at the Assen circuit in the north of Holland.

Iannone started from pole position then won the fourth round at Mugello in Italy three weeks ago and will be looking to do the same tomorrow after being fastest throughout practice and qualifying.

Fellow FTR rider Alex Debon was leading the qualifying session when he became involved in an incident with a slower rider. Debon fell from the Aeroport de Castello-Ajo M210 and the luckless Spaniard suffered a broken right collarbone. The crash rules Debon out of tomorrow’s Assen race even though he qualified in third place on the front row.

Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham continues to adapt to the FTR M210 after switching to the Buckingham, England-built chassis for the Le Mans, France third round last month. Abraham was constantly in the top 10 throughout practice and qualifying but a crash-ridden finish to qualifying left the Czech Republic rider in 12th place, completing the third row of the grid.

Iannone’s teammate Gabor Talmacsi – again a front-runner throughout practice – will start from 23rd place after crashing out of qualifying, escaping injury.

FTR’s Steve Bones
“We’re working hard with Andrea Iannone as he still has some set-up issues but his time in qualifying was impressive and I’m sure he’ll believe he can win tomorrow. It was a real shame for Alex Debon as he’d made some changes prior to the qualifying session and on his third lap out set the time that was eventually to be good enough for third place on the grid. Karel Abraham is impressing every week as he gets used to the FTR M210 and we’re hoping he can push for a top 10 finish tomorrow. After the injury to Alex Debon I’m pleased that Gabor Talmacsi is OK to race following his crash. His machine needs some attention but that can be easily fixed.”

FTR Moto suffered mixed fortunes with the five M210 machines in action at the fifth round of the Moto2 World Championship at the new Silverstone Circuit on Sunday, but Spaniard Alex Debon ensured the run of top-five finishes continued for the Buckingham, England-based chassis manufacturer. FTR machines have taken top-five finishes five times in 2010, and Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team rider Debon continued that run on the new, 3.665-mile Northamptonshire circuit – home of the British MotoGP round for the next five years.

Andrea Iannone – the runaway winner of the fourth round at Mugello, Italy a fortnight ago – battled to 12th place on his FIMMCO Speed Up Team machine while wild card rider Kev Coghlan finished 22nd on the FOGI Racing-backed FTR machine in the 18-lap race.

FIMMCO Speed Up's Gabor Talmacsi crashed out of a battle for ninth place at Silverstone

Gabor Talmacsi – in his 150th Grand Prix start – crashed out of the battle for ninth place with three laps to go, escaping injury, and luckless Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham also fell, on the last lap and while chasing 14th place. Abraham suffered a wrist injury in the crash.

“It’s been a frantic and tough weekend overall, but Alex Debon once again proved the potential of the FTR machine with a strong finish and, in the early stages, he showed signs of being able to challenge for the win,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “We’ve got three riders in the top 10 of the Championship, Kev Coghlan’s machine was fastest through the speed trap at Silverstone and the interest in the FTR Moto2 machine continues to grow so we’re all pretty happy. We’ve got Assen and Catalunya in quick succession now and the closeness of Moto2 is evident week in, week out. With that in mind the new class is quickly becoming not just a battle of constructors but it’s also pushing the teams to the limit in terms of their technical abilities. In the teams we’re involved with and the technical support they have we’re sure there’s a lot more excitement and success to come in 2010 for FTR.”