MotoGP – The Portuguese Grand Prix 125 lap by lap –

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The Portuguese Grand Prix 125 lap by lap

MotoGP - The Portuguese Grand Prix 125 lap by lap -

Long awaited, the Portuguese round posed as a true justice of the peace of the talents in the presence between the fluctuating weather and a circuit on which there was no winter testing, the spectacle promised to be daunting ! The turn-based 125.

It was on a cold track (only 23 ° C) and in delicate conditions – as they love them so much – that Mike Di Meglio took the best time of this first session! Next are Terol, Ranseder, Corsi, Koyama, Cortese, Gadea, Talmacsi, Olive, Iannone, Nieto, Masbou, De Rosa, Vasquez and Rabat. Cluzel is 25th, Carrillo 34th and Rossi falls.

Zoom on…

The various fortunes of French pilots… If Mike thrills the whole of France – or at least his biker component! – as the only rider on the field to go below 1’48, the Loncin riders continue to experience difficult times. As for Louis Rossi – the FFM pilot – he flies away during the session and will not be able to start the race. Finally, Cyril Carrillo (FFM wild card) for his part ranks in an honorable 34th place in practice, for his second participation only in GP, ​​which he will achieve with a beautiful 25th place (read below).

The random track conditions of the Fernanda Pires da Silva layout Placed this year much earlier in the season, the Portuguese GP in Estoril is paying its proximity to the Atlantic with unstable weather. Result: the track is much colder and trickier than usual … A good number of drivers go to the mat, including Mike Di Meglio who hit a wild card driver on a fast lap. If the Frenchman manages to limit the damage with his 8th place on the grid, he will have to grit his teeth throughout the race the next day.

Second qualifying practice session (Saturday)

It was finally the winner of the previous race in Jerez, Simone Corsi, who took pole position. Behind him are the astonishing Stevie Bonsey (first American driver to start from the front row of a GP 125 since Scott in 1989!), Terol, Webb, Gadea, Olive, Bradl, Di Meglio, Talmacsi, Redding, Koyama, Iannone, Smith, Nieto and Vasquez. Alexis Masbou is 25th, Jules Cluzel: 27th and Cyril Carrillo 34th.

Race (Sunday)

Departure : Nicolas Terol (the teammate of the poleman Corsi) is the fastest to start: the 19-year-old Spaniard immediately shows his pretensions following his first podium (in 50 races) obtained in Jerez! Follow Webb, Corsi (for which it was the first pole position), Smith, Gadea, Joan Olive, Bradl, Talmacsi and Nieto.

Mike Di Meglio seems to have missed his start: after a few turns, he is relegated to 14th place! Conversely, Englishman Bradley Smith won some nine positions on the first braking !

2nd round : the n ° 18 is still in the lead while his teammate brakes the Englishman Danny Weeb. The Aprilia of Smith’s Polaris World team remains in contact with the two men ahead of Joan Olive, Stefan Bradl, Sergio Gadea, Gabor Talmacsi, Pablo Nieto, Tomoyoshi Koyama, Mike Di Meglio, Andrea Iannone and Stevie Bonsey. Cyril Carrillo is 30th, Alexis Masbou 32nd.

Hugo Van Den Berg falls and must give up, while Mike and his n ° 63 pass Koyama and Nieto in turn: the Frenchman is tenth !

3rd and 4th rounds : Joan Olive takes advantage of his excellent top speed to pass Smith, then Corsi to whom he makes a superb interior! Not stopping there, the Spaniard points the fairing of his Derbi in front of the Terol machine thanks to the long straight line of the pits and takes command of operations !

The reigning world champion, Gabor Talmacsi seems to have difficulty getting back on the leading group and finds himself alone in fifth place. Follow Bradl, Webb (in clear loss of ground over the laps), Mike Di Meglio who has just passed Sergio Gadea, Stevie Bonsey and Nieto.

5th, 6th and 7th rounds : Joan Olive and Nicolas Terol exchange the lead thanks to the aspiration: Olive and his n ° 6 end up taking the advantage, but neither of the two drivers manages to make the hole! Smith passed Simone Corsi on braking on the straight line, while Di Meglio managed to pass Webb on which he stumbled! Big crash for Raffaele de Rosa, whose KTM soars very high on the track: the pilot gets up alone but he seems to limp…

8th round : Terol once again hoists his black Aprilia in front of Olive’s yellow and red Derbi thanks to a failure of it under braking: the Spaniard pulls aside a little and Terol takes advantage of it instantly! Behind them, the threat persists with Smith and Corsi, while Talmacsi is relegated to several tenths.

The Hungarian does not seem able to increase the pace and should soon be joined by Danny Webb who has just stolen 6th place from Mike Di Meglio! Alexis Masbou is 24th and Cyril Carrillo 28th, 32 seconds behind the leader.

Absent from the count, the second Loncin driver, Jules Cluzel, had to retire after a crash … because of his teammate! "I didn’t quite understand what was going on: Alexis (Masbou, NDLR) cut in the middle of the turn, maybe to avoid another pilot, and I hit him. I am very disappointed and we will have to explain ourselves !", confided the n ° 16 quite annoyed…

9th and 10th laps : Joan Olive takes the lead from Terol on the back straight, which leaves Bradley Smith in ambush just behind! Corsi precedes Gabor Talmacsi whose No. 1 does not match his current performance: the 26-year-old driver equaled Estoril in his worst qualifying (9th) since the Australian Grand Prix in 2007! Webb, Bradl, Di Meglio and Stevie Bonsey continue to gauge themselves by taking advantage of each other’s mistakes: the American even tries an interior on the French at the entrance of the chicane, but the latter retorts and retains his 8th square.

11th and 12th rounds : After having achieved the fastest lap in the race (in 1’45.557, barely 2 tenths slower than his pole position!), Simone Corsi passed Nicolas Terol at the entrance of the first corner of the circuit.

Stefan Bradl gets rid of Danny Webb and Mike Di Meglio. Meanwhile, Pablo Nieto must return to the pits after a gardening session in the gravel: a blow for the Spaniard, whose time is running out in the category and who dreamed of success on this circuit…

13th round : Bradley Smith sets out to attack Nicolas Terol whose changes of angles seem less sharp: would the 19-year-old Spaniard be in difficulty? Still, the Englishman, two years younger, sets the pace to go hunting for Olive and Corsi at the head of the race..

Full of enthusiasm, the n ° 38 generously puts the gas back on the left and the rear stalls: victim of a big high side, Smith falls, gets up stunned and limps a little until his pits…

Bestof 125 – Estoril
Race 2007 Race 2008
Pole position 1’44.675 (Mattia Pasini – Aprilia) 1’45.367 (Simone Corsi – Aprilia)
Best lap in the race 1’45.027 (Gabor Talmacsi – Aprilia) 1’45.557 (Simone Corsi – Aprilia)
Better top speed 235.9 km / h (Randy Krummenacher – KTM) 237 km / h (Joan Olive – Aprilia)
Podium Faubel – Talmacsi – Espargaro Corsi – Olive – Terol

14th, 15th and 16th laps : Olive precedes Corsi, Terol, Talmacsi (at 5.5 seconds), Bonsey, Bradl, Di Meglio, Webb, Gadea and Cortese. Stefan Bradl manages to pass the American and seems able to get back on the current No.1…

17th, 18th and 19th laps : Corsi overtakes Joan Olive, whose 116th start in GP 125, without any victory to write down on his shelves! To give him no chance, the winner of the previous race takes care to close the door when braking the long straight, then takes advantage of the first winding part of the circuit to widen a slight gap.

Mike passes Stevie Bonsey, whose rhythm lacks regularity, and sets off to attack Gabor Talmacsi from whom he immediately takes back a quarter of a second! Provoked, Bonsey tries to follow and passes near the correctional out of a right !

20th round : Mike Di Meglio hits the hapless Gabor Talmacsi, while the leaders continue to widen the gap. The Toulouse man passes the factory Aprilia RSA to the suction and Bonsey takes the opportunity to do the same! The 18-year-old American tries to push Mike to make a mistake, but the Ajo team driver resists: finally the n ° 51 comes out better from a left and passes the n ° 63 on the outside !

21st and 22nd laps : Corsi is still leading the race ahead of Olive, Terol, Bonsey (over 10 seconds), Webb, Di Meglio, Talmacsi and Stefan Bradl, Gadea, Cortese, Espargaro, Iannone, Aegerter and Ranseder. Mike seems a little slowed down by Danny Weeb, but the Frenchman can’t find the loophole…

Last round : At the start of the last loop, the positions seem frozen and Joan Olive is four tenths behind the leader: making the last effort, he returns a little to the chicane, but too far to try to take the aspiration of Corsi who wins for the second time in two races !

Terol, Bonsey and Webb precede Mike Di Meglio who comes out of the parabolic with Gabor Talmacsi on his heels: the Hungarian takes advantage of the aspiration to take sixth place from the French! A handsome player, Mike will explain having had fun in the race, even if engine problems did not allow him to compete with the best.

They explain themselves …

Simone Corsi (Aprilia / 1st) : "I’m very happy because it was a perfect weekend and a fantastic race! I waited to see what was going to happen in the last lap as I couldn’t get past Joan Olive and finally held on to the end to win the race !"

Rank 125
1- Corsi S. 6- Talmacsi G. 11- Iannone A.
2- Olive J. 7- Di Meglio M. 12- Aegerter D.
3- Terol N. 8- Bradl S. 13- Espargaro P.
4- Bonsey S. 9- Gadea S. 14- Ranseder M.
5- Webb D. 10- Cortese S. 15- Vasquez E.
Masbou 20th, Carrillo 25th, Cluzel fall

Joan Olive (Derbi / 2nd) : "even though I would have preferred to be in the lead at the end of the race, I’m very happy! I tried to pass Corsi at the start, then I decided to wait for the last lap, but I did not do it very well: I made a mistake in the last corner which prevented me from catch up with Simone…"

Nicolas Terol (Aprilia / 3rd) : "I’m pretty happy, because this is my second consecutive podium. I passed Joan, then I tried to pass Corsi, but at that moment Smith fell right in front of me and it distracted me for the rest.."

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR and F. KIRN

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