MotoGP – The Catalonia Grand Prix 125 lap by lap –

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The Grand Prix of Catalonia 125 lap by lap

MotoGP - The Catalonia Grand Prix 125 lap by lap -

The fight continues between the lords of the 125 category and Spain is the new arena of their jousting: first French gladiator in the running, Mike di Meglio intends to do honor to the homeland of his Derbi… Round by round !

Friday: first qualifying session
It’s war between the Derbi riders for this first day of testing: securing the best time (for only two tenths!) Ahead of Mike di Meglio, Pol Espargaro signs his best performance a few days before his 17th birthday !

Behind the two drivers are the reigning world champion Gabor Talmacsi, Sergio Gadea, Raffaele de Rosa, Stevie Bonsey, Dominique Aegerter, Bradley Smith, Sandro Cortese, Scott Redding, Stefan Bradl and Danny Weeb. Alexis Masbou is 24th, Jules Cluzel 35th and Louis Rossi 36th.

Saturday: second qualifying session
Continuing his momentum, Pol Espargaro achieved his first pole position, without however succeeding in breaking the track record. Mike di Meglio is once again in his aspiration ahead of Nicolas Terol, Scott Redding, Sergio Gadea, Bradley Smith, Andrea Iannone, Joan Olive, Gabor Talmacsi and Sandro Cortese. Alexis Mabou is 23rd, penalized by the lack of power of his Loncin on a circuit with one of the longest straights. Same punishment for Jules Cluzel, 29th, while Louis Rossi will start from an anonymous 35th place.

Zoom on…

Gabor Talmacsi struggling this season : qualified more than a second from Espargaro, the native of Budapest is above all more than 1.6 seconds from his 2007 pole! Unable to find his marks on the all-new Aprilia (which he turned down last year), the 27-year-old Hungarian sees his title hopes drift further away with each race…

Sunday: race !
Departure : Pol Espargaro achieves the best takeoff ahead of Terol, Gadea and Joan Olive. Nicolas Terol takes the lead after two turns ahead of Espargaro, Gadea and Olive.

2nd and 3rd rounds : Nicolas Terol was the first to cross the timing line ahead of Pol Espargaro, Sergio Gadea and Andrea Iannone. Mike di Meglio is 7th, Alexis Masbou 22nd and Louis Rossi 31st.

Gadea returned to first position, followed closely by Terol, Espargaro and Ianonne who seemed to want to attack Espargaro. Mike di Meglio – author of a modest start – returned to fifth place. Abandonment of Pablo Nieto who plunges deeper and deeper into disarray for his last season in 125cc…

4th and 5th rounds : Sergio Gada precedes Nicolas Terol, Joan Olive, Pol Espargaro, Mike di Meglio, Scott Redding, Andrea Iannone and Stefan Bradl. Mike manages to come back with ease: he brakes beautifully and takes first place thanks to an irreproachable interior! Terol swerves to Gadea’s right and steals second position from her.

6th, 7th and 8th laps : Sergio Gadea takes advantage of the aspiration to catch up with Terol and wins in front of his two opponents under braking from the pit straight! Strong in his head, "Mike the bike" immediately takes back the best and precedes Gadea, Terol, Espargaro, Scott Redding and Simone Corsi.

Gradually widening the gap, the Toulouse pilot now has a half second gap on Sergio Gadea who is pushed at the entry of the 180 ° by Nicolas Terol !

9th and 10th laps : Mike continues his rider alone, but it fights behind to come back! Espargaro takes Olive in her wake, who does not take long to overwhelm her when braking on the straight! Nicolas Terol is still solid second and gives blow for blow to the two Derbi pilots who try to come back. Alexis Masbou is 23rd with his Loncin.

11th and 12th rounds : Mike di Meglio is played by Nicolas Terol, preceding Corsi, Olive (author of the best lap) and Pol Espargaro.

The n ° 63 is redoing the interior in Terol to take shelter from the ascent of Corsi, Espargaro, Joan Olive and Gabor Talmacsi.

13th, 14th and 15th laps : The same Gabor Talmacsi who decides to strike the double charge Joan Olive: the Hungarian pilot seems to have regained the necessary speed to get back on the leading men who prance in front with a second in advance.

Nicolas Terol, decidedly very strong under braking, takes the best from Mike di Meglio just before the line: taking advantage of the excellent top speed of his Derbi, the Toulouse driver recovers his property at the end of the straight! Behind them, Joan Olive and Pol Espargaro exchange positions in front of Talmacsi and Corsi.

16th and 17th rounds : Alexis Masbou makes a mistake and gets up unscathed: "I lost the front when entering a turn, trying to compensate for a bike that was not running very well", confides the disappointed Albigensian pilot. Little by little, the second group succeeds in returning to the aspiration of Nicolas Terol, but Mike redoes the forcing to take shelter: scalded by his fourth place at Mugello last week ( read), n ° 63 does not want to see all his efforts swept away during the last lap !

18th, 19th and 20th laps : Mike di Meglio and Nicolas Terol are still leading the way, followed by Espargaro, Talmacsi and Olive who are seven tenths behind the two leading drivers. Three laps from the finish, the young Pol Espargaro brings back the group which follows him in the exhausts of Nicolas Terol! Certainly wanting to give everything in front of his audience, Joan Olive suddenly goes wrong in an unpredictable way…

21st round : Mike di Meglio is still in the lead, but Espargaro goes on the attack on Terol to try to win on his circuit: penalty lost and the lead order does not change, until Nicolas Terol kicks off at the entrance to 180 ° !

Last round : Mike di Meglio is therefore alone in the lead with half a second ahead of Espargaro and Talmacsi! The Toulouse driver, who takes care of his trajectories until the last bends, holds on until the end and wins in front of Pol Espargaro and Gabor Talmacsi !

It is therefore a very good operation for the n ° 63 overall, since Mike di Meglio consolidates his position as leader with 14 points ahead of Simone Corsi, 35 over Stefan Bradl and 37 over Nicolas Terol !

Rank 125
1- DI MEGLIO M. 6- REDDING S. 11- WEBB D.
2- ESPARGARO P. 7- BONSEY S. 12- AEGERTER D.
3- TALMACSI G. 8- CORTESE S. 13- KOYAMA T.
4- BRADL S. 9- GADEA S. 14- SMITH B.
5- CORSI S. 10- MARK M. 15- KRUMMENACHER R.

CLUZEL J .: 20th. ROSSI L .: 25th

They explain themselves

Zoom on…

Mike di Meglio’s identity card

  • Name: Di Meglio

  • First name: Mike

  • Date of birth: January 17, 1988

  • Place of birth: Toulouse

  • French nationality

  • Height: 1.68 m

  • Weight: 55 kg

  • Teams: Aprilia (2003/2004), Honda (2005/2007), Derbi (2008)

  • GP played: 81

  • First Grand Prix: Japan 2003

  • First victory: Turkey 2005

  • Wins: 3 (Turkey 2005, France 2008 and Catalonia 2008)

  • Podiums: 5 (3 wins and two second places: Great Britain in 2005 and China in 2008

    • Mike di Meglio (1st) : "It’s great for me, winning on both dry and wet tracks! I pushed throughout the race, and now I’m in the race for the podium every time. It does me good to prove to everyone that I am fast everywhere and not just in the wet, as some argued. Thank you to my family, my team and my sponsors !"

    Pol Espargaro (2nd) : "It’s a special day for me, we worked hard the whole time and had a great practice and qualifying session. I had different tires from the other riders and thought I could get away, but I couldn’t. I fought well !"

    Gabor Talmacsi (3rd) : "After my bad start, I tried to overtake the drivers in front of me. I gained confidence in my machine and the last laps were spectacular. I’m going back to the championship and our goal now is to stay in the top 3 in every race !"

    Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR and F. KIRN

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