Early retirement from qualifying race for Vlaanderen at Imola
. By Bikeland Staff
Team HRC Calvin Vlaanderen’s qualifying performance at Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari was cut short after a handful of laps as the 22-year-old from Cape Town was forced into an early retirement due to a technical issue.
Calvin was running in ninth position as the MX2 field swept past the first few turns of the moto and, after moving up to eighth place, he set his sight on Henry Jacobi in seventh.At the end of lap five, however, Vlaanderen made his way back to the pit-lane and did not get back into the race.
MX2 action will resume tomorrow morning at 10:45 local time (GMT +2) for the warm-up session, which will be followed by the final two races of the season at 13:15 and 16:10.
Calvin Vlaanderen 10
I’m obviously very disappointed for not finishing this race as it was very important to get a good gate-pick for tomorrow. It’s not easy to pass at this track and the first turn is very narrow. Having said that it is what it is: we know we have the speed so we’ll try to do our best in order to be as high as we can at the finish line.
Calvin Vlaanderen
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP
It’s a shame that Calvin’s performance drew to a close so early: he was building up a good speed and it looked like he could have made up a few places before the chequered flag. That’s racing and we know it, but surely his job will be much harder now. I’m sure he’ll be fired up for tomorrow!
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
Qualifying race
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1
PRADO GARCIA
Jorge 61 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 23:38.441
2
WATSON
Ben 919 GBR Kemea Yamaha Yamalube Racing Team +12.012
3
KJER OLSEN
Thomas 19 DEN Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing +15.022
4
LAWRENCE
Hunter 96 AUS Honda 114 Motorsports +19.087
5
RODRIGUEZ
Anthony 127 VEN Kemea Yamaha Yamalube Racing Team +22.926
6
CERVELLIN
Michele 747 ITA Yamaha SM Action - M.C. Migliori +26.372
7
JACOBI
Henry 29 GER STC Racing +28.018
8
COVINGTON
Thomas 64