Motourage

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 ended the 2009 testing and development program of its Moto2 World Championship prototype with a two-day test at the Almeria Circuit in Spain this week that finished with Czech Republic Grand Prix rider Karel Abraham confirming the machine’s potential.

Abraham improved from a best lap of 1m 40.5s on Monday to a 1m 39.0s best on Tuesday, leaving the promising 19-year-old excited at the prospect of racing the FTR M210 challenger in next year’s inaugural Moto2 Grand Prix championship.

The FTR Moto2 machine has shown some promising potential throughout 09 testing

The Almeria test was attended by a total of five prospective Moto2 chassis suppliers and FTR director Steve Bones believes the two months since the M209 first took to the track at Catalunya have been crucial in developing the 2010 racer into a series contender.

“From the Joe Darcey Team and Graeme Gowland’s exceptional performances in the final two Spanish Championship rounds to the superb feedback from GP riders like Talmasci, Simon and Abraham in recent tests we have improved the machine and learned so much for 2010.” said Bones.

He continued: “Karel was impressive at Almeria. His best lap on Tuesday came after a lot of hard work by him and his chief technician and he ended up being the fastest rider by more than one second. We’ll now get to work on the final 2010 plans and conclude the on-going negotiations with teams interested in racing the M210 in the World and Spanish Championships and other events that we’ve received inquiries about.”

FTR is currently in negotiations with a total of six Grand Prix teams and five Spanish Championship teams with a view to FTR Moto being the chosen constructor for those teams.

FTR MOTO will continue its research in readiness for the 2010 Moto2 World Championship with further tests of the M209 prototype machine at the Valencia circuit in Spain tomorrow, Friday Dec. 11.

As interest in the FTR machine increases, riders from three more Grand Prix teams will put the M209 through its paces around the 2.951-mile circuit.

During Friday’s action the last three 125cc World Champions – Julian Simon (2009), Mike di Meglio (2008) and Gabor Talmasci (2007) – will all test the machine with a view to challenging for the 2010 World Championship aboard the FTR M210 racer.

Graeme Gowland rode the M209 to an impressive finish at the Spanish Championships at Jerez earlier this year

“Friday will be a good gauge as to how far we have come with the project,” said FTR director Steve Bones. “And by tomorrow evening a total of seven teams will have tested the M209 with a view to using our next generation machine in the 2010 World Championship.  What we have now is very much a prototype and has been built primarily for research and development purposes. At present we have around 30 improvements – some major and some minor – in progress for next year’s race machine.”

Cardion AB Grand Prix rider Karel Abraham tested the FTR machine at Valencia on Thursday and was impressed with the performance. Bones added: “Karel really enjoyed the test and wants to test again tomorrow. He did well to adapt to the four-stroke motor and the engine braking and improved throughout his time on the machine.”

Testing is expected to continue with the FTR M209 at Valencia and at the Almeria circuit throughout next week.