Disappointing End for AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing at Sachsenring

2014-07-14 08:50
The Sachsenring Grand Prix saw a disappointing end for AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing with a double DNF concluding the first half of the season for the all new Moto2 Team.

Following a positive morning Warm Up Johann Zarco made a strong race start as the lights turned green. Pushing hard to close upon the leading pack the Frenchman lost control of the #5 Caterham Suter crashing out of the German GP.

Meanwhile teammate Josh Herrin struggled with his hand injury caused from a crash in FP3 the previous morning. Feeling unable to continue and concerned with safety he returned to the box prematurely ending his race.


#5 Johann Zarco: DNF

“In morning Warm Up the temperature was cooler and my feeling on the bike was much better, which allowed me to be fast and in a top position with good pace.

“I really thought that it was possible to do well today and maintain the pace throughout the race but the bike was sliding too much. We didn’t change anything on it from the morning session; the only difference was the track temperature. I struggled to follow the others and I tried many times to stay with them but finally I crashed. I am very disappointed.

“I will train as well as possible this summer because I have a good pace at the moment as a rider and in the second half of the season we will be on more tracks that I like. I hope I will be on the podium for these Grand Prix’s. It’s very difficult but I now need to accept what happened today and keep working as I know we will have the result.”

#2 Josh Herrin: DNF

“I was having second thoughts starting the race just because of my wrist. Not so much because of the pain but because I had no feeling in my hand. It wasn’t possible to hold onto the bar really. I was making way too many big mistakes that could have ended really badly, but luckily I managed to save them. I was just worried that by staying out there it was too dangerous. There were no points to be made fighting at the back and from a safety point of view it just wasn’t worth the risk.

“It is definitely a weekend not to remember so I’m looking forward to my home race at Indy where hopefully we can turn this season around.”

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager:

“It’s not been a good race for us at all today with both riders out of the GP.

“First of all Josh stopped his race, which was very disappointing. He needs to get his hand checked out thoroughly to see if there is something wrong there. After his crash yesterday he has an injury which really affected him today.

“Johann had a very good pace from the start this morning so we had high hopes for the race. He said that the grip level was not as good as it was in Warm Up and he was struggling to stay on the bike. The tyre he used for the race was from yesterday’s Qualifying which we knew worked, so at this time we are unsure about what exactly happened. As he crashed the bike caught on fire and was very badly damaged.

“We cannot continue like this. We must be stronger in the races because we are losing out a lot and this is something that we have to work on. Now there is a break in the season so we need to use this time to refocus and come back strong for Indy. We have to work hard and get up to speed in the races so that we can fight for a podium, as this is what we are here for, to challenge for the top results.”

Source: Caterham Moto Racing Team

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