RAINFALL AT SEPANG HINDERS QUALIFYING FOR NORRODIN AND KORNFEIL
. By Bikeland Staff
An eventful Moto3 qualifying saw DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team Riders Jakub Kornfeil and Adam Norrodin qualify in 15th and 18th place respectively, for tomorrows Malaysian Grand Prix.
Jakub Kornfeil made a strong start in this morning’s final practice, where he remained at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the dry session, before finishing in a solid second place. Teammate Adam Norrodin also looked in good form around the 5.5km circuit, gradually building his pace and concluding practice in a respectable sixteenth position.
With spots of rain descending just minutes before Moto3 qualifying got underway, the teams and riders were faced with a difficult set-up decision to make.
Hoping to obtain one flying lap on slicks before the rain fell heavier, Kornfeil and Norrodin got straight to work as the lights turned green but with too many wet patches and rainfall immediately increasing, the change to wet tyres was imminent.
Despite qualifying lower down the order than anticipated, having ridden in both conditions, Kornfeil and Norrodin are feeling fully prepared and confident ahead of tomorrow’s 18 lap race. Aims are high for the teams Home Grand Prix and the DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team are ready and raring to put on a good show.
Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager
“We had very difficult conditions for qualifying today. It started raining just as the session got underway, so although the track was not completely wet, we couldn’t get any laps in on slicks. We changed to wet tyres straight away but kept the dry setting in the bikes. Unfortunately this didn’t work out or help the riders. Both Jakub and Adam came back to the box and we changed to a full wet set-up. With fifteen minutes to go both riders were able to improve and better their times, so I’m pleased for this, but of course we were hoping for more here.
Jakub did a great FP3 and is very confident in the dry, Adam also, so we will see tomorrow what the weather brings. The starting positions are not so bad and I think both riders can still do well.
Wet or dry we will do our best to finish strong here in front of our home crowd.”
#84 Jakub Kornfeil
“The weather was very strange today; we went out for qualifying on slicks and by the first corner it started raining very heavily. I made one lap but it was very difficult because half of the track was wet and half was dry. I quickly came back in and changed to wet tyres, but the set-up we already had on the bike didn’t work with them and I fell quite far down the timesheets. My crew then changed the bike to its full wet set-up and following the restart [after the red flag] I went back out on track for the final eighteen minutes of qualifying. The first few laps were very difficult because there was a lot of water but step by step I started to improve. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to break into the top ten and I went from twelfth to fifteenth after the chequered flag. Nevertheless we found a good setting for the wet and we are prepared for tomorrow. We saw this morning that we are very fast in the dry [P2], so no matter what conditions the weather throws at us tomorrow, we are ready to race!”
#7 Adam Norrodin
“The conditions this afternoon were not so great and unfortunately the choice to use slicks at the beginning of qualifying didn’t help us. The heavy rain came very quickly and we had no other option but to change to our wet set-up. The rain continued to increase and I was unable to make any significant improvement. As conditions worsened the red flag came out and the final eighteen minutes were paused. When I went back out on track I knew I had to push as hard as I could because I was down in twenty third place. I knew it would be very difficult to make it into the top ten but I didn’t want to give up. In the final minutes I told myself that I couldn’t stay in this position, so I just grit my teeth and pushed; I almost crashed but luckily I didn’t and I was able to go faster and move up to eighteenth. I had hoped for more but it is not that bad under the circumstances and I’m confident that with a good start, I can really fight for points tomorrow.”