TEAM MAHINDRA DOMINATES THE CIV ROUND NUMBER SIX AT MISANO
At the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli today was time for the Qualifying and Race 1 in this second and last doubleheader of the season. Due to family problems that held him in India, Sarath Kumar couldn’t take part to this week-end of racing and because of that Mahindra Racing decided to hire Miroslav Popov as a substitute. In Qualifying Popov showed he is worth the trust the team gave him and thanks to a 1’45”970 lap time got a fourth grid slot start. Riccardo Moretti, unfortunately, suffered some chassis issues and finished qualifying with a fourteenth position (1’46’867). It is undoubtedly clear that the already high level of the CIV 125/Moto3 class here at Misano was further increased by several Moto3 World Championship wild-cards.
It was a second and a fifth row starts respectively for Popov and Moretti for today’s race, that started at 4pm. Popov moved off well from the grid and kept a good position in the top spots of the classification, while Moretti increased his position lap by lap. As the race progressed Popov slowed down his pace while on the other hand Moretti caught and passed him in the final laps, winning his fourth race of the season. Popov admitted he found himself comfortable with the bike and both riders will be ready for a repeat performance in tomorrow’s Race 2.
Moretti currently lies second in the championship standings with a 26 points gap from the leader while Popov, with only one race under his belt, is ninth. In the manufacturer standings Mahindra is currently in first position tied with Aprilia. Race 2, the penultimate of the season, will start tomorrow at 2pm.
Misano World Circuit – CIV 125 GP : Qualifying : 1) Antonelli (Honda)– 2) Riins N avarro – 3) Dalla Porta (Aprilia) – 4 Popov (Mahindra) – 5) McPhee (Honda) – 6) Calia (Honda)……14) Moretti (Mahindra)
Misano World Circuit – CIV 125 GP : Race : 1) Moretti (Mahindra)– 2) Popov (Mahindra) – 3) Dalla Porta (Aprilia) – 4) Mantovani (Aprilia) – 5) Loi KTM) – 6) Cappella (Aprilia)
Riccardo Moretti:”Qualifying was really tough for me and I had to work very hard with the team to find a good set-up for this race. Despite the difficulties we never gave up and today we achieved a very important result and I hope for a repeat performance tomorrow. Surely it won’t be easy as the opponents are very strong starting from my team mate Popov that was very quick today. I want to thank the team and Mahindra for this amazing victory.”
Miroslav Popov : “I found myself immediately at ease on the bike right from the start and I got a good result in the race. The bike is very fast and works so well. I stayed in the top positions for the whole race and I dropped down a bit only in the last laps. I ended up second anyway, tomorrow I will try to be up there once again and hopefully I will be back on the podium.”
