M2: Malaysia GP: Team Aspar race report

The Moto2 race in Sepang was a tale of two riders, with all eyes on the two remaining title candidates. Julian Simon started from pole, whilst Toni Elias took control of the race on the opening lap. To the surprise of noone, Simon, Elias, Iannone y Luthi were the early frontrunners, although this group was rapidly reduced. Simon and then Luthi crashed before the halfway mark, Elias placed fourth to win the Moto2 title, but the race itself ended with Roberto Rolfo as an unlikely victor, ahead of Alex de Angelis and Andrea Iannone.

Pole and the best pace of the weekend weren't guarantees of success for Mapfre Aspar's Julian Simon in Sepang. The Spaniard lost places on the start, completing the opening lap in seventh place. He knuckled down to make back positions, climbing back to third on lap five, although one lap later he came within a whisker of highsiding his bike on the back straight. Lap seven saw his fastest lap of the race with a 2'08.691, but once more he had to face adversity. A lost front end on lap eight ended any chance of a podium.

On the same corner as his teammate, Mike di Meglio hit the deck two laps before. The Frenchman also picked his bike up and continued the race, crossing the finish line in twenty-sixth.

21st Julian Simon:
"The most important thing right now is that I am unhurt from the crash. There will be another chance to fight for the win in Australia. I fought my heart out today; in the crash I hit the brakes very hard and dropped gears too late, closing up the front. There was nothing that I could do to prevent it. I had experienced a scare earlier on and I hadn't got a good start, with an over-eagerness to make a comeback as a result. You learn from this and I hope that now it won't happen again. I want to congratulate Toni on his title win, because he was strong all year and deserves the crown. We have to turn the page and look forward to next weekend and another chance to win a race."

26th Mike Di Meglio:
"I had a great start, but I made a mistake entering the first corner and lost a lot of positions. I tried to be aggressive and take as many places as I could, but the more I tried, the less I achieved. After four laps some problems that we had in Japan came back, making it hard to stop the bike for the corners. I fell at turn one, but was able to get back on track, fortunately. It is a shame, because this morning in the warmup I had a good feeling and was confident for the race. I was convinced that I could get a good result and take some points."

-source: team aspar