DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team Confident Ahead Of Moto3 Finale At Valencia

Comunitat Valenciana - Ricardo Tormo, Spain – Saturday 7th November

Circuit: Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana
Circuit Length: 4.0 km

Bike #63 – Zulfahmi Khairuddin
Qualifying: P21; 1’40.071 (DRY) – 17 laps

Bike #84 – Jakub Kornfeil
Qualifying: P12; 1’39.763 (DRY) – 17 laps

In perfect conditions the DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team riders qualified there 2015 KTM machines on the fourth and seventh row for tomorrow’s Moto3 Grand Finale at Valencia.

Continuing his run of form, Jakub Kornfeil enjoyed a positive and uplifting start to Saturday’s proceedings getting straight up to speed and posting his fastest time alone and on race tyres. Consistently lapping in the 1m39s lap times, the Czech rider quickly launched himself up the time-sheets and into second place, where he remained for the majority of the session, before the final minutes saw him finish in a hard earned fourth place. Feeling confident on board his #84 bike, Kornfeil soon found his rhythm as the qualifying session began, placing him immediately within the top ten. Pushing hard alone Kornfeil qualified in 12th place just 0.399s off pole position.

Relishing from his positive momentum, teammate Zulfahmi Khairuddin continued to look strong around the 4.0km circuit as the final practice session got underway. Further improving his time from Friday’s practice sessions, the 24 year old looked set for a strong qualifying performance. Finding his rhythm, Fahmi worked hard to pick up the pace. Setting his fastest time on his ninth lap, the Malaysian rider pushed for further improvement but struggling with set-up changes to his #63 machine, was unable to continue is upwards momentum. Qualifying in 21st position, with less than half a second separating him from tenth place, Fahmi remains confident and positive ahead of tomorrow’s twenty four lap race.

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager

“We have had a good weekend so far with both riders doing well throughout practice and showing good pace. With the tyres we’re going to use for the GP, the race setting on both bikes works well. I think tomorrow is going to be a hard race and very close as always, so for sure our riders will have to be quite tough and push that little bit extra. Although I think we maybe could have done a bit better in qualifying, overall I’m quite happy because the margins are so close. Twelfth and twenty first place is not a disaster but it’s not great either because we had such strong practice sessions. Nevertheless the race pace is there and this is the most important thing; we will push hard tomorrow.”

#63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin

“This morning in practice I started really well and I felt good on the bike. Between FP3 and qualifying we made some changes to the gearing and unfortunately it didn’t help. It was a bit too short so I couldn’t get the speed for the slip-stream. Overall though I’m happy with my race pace and I feel confident for tomorrow because I have been consistently lapping in the 1m40s lap times, regardless to whether I use a soft or medium tyre. Obviously I’m not happy with qualifying in twenty first position but with a good start I know I have the pace to fight with the leaders and challenge for a good result.”

#84 Jakub Kornfeil

“Today has been physically hard but I’m really happy with my feeling on the bike. The set-up that we have is very good so I’ve really enjoyed riding here and I must thank my mechanics and crew chief for this. All day long we’ve been high up the time sheets, especially in FP3 where I was in second place for a long time. In qualifying we continued to be on the pace and in the top ten for the majority of the session but unfortunately in the final minutes I couldn’t improve my time anymore because I was alone; here if you want to be in the top five you need to find a slip-stream. That’s the only reason I didn’t qualify higher, so I’m pleased with today. I’m happy with how the bike is working and I think we are very prepared for the race. Tomorrow will be a fantastic fight, so I’m looking forward to this last race of the year; I want to enjoy it and finish strong. Starting from twelfth position is not that bad; we are only two tenths behind fifth place, which is nothing. All my laps I did alone which is very important for me. I have such a good rhythm around this track and I feel better than I have ever done in the past here; I never expected to be so high up throughout the sessions this weekend. I know we have a good race pace and I know I can push hard from the start. We are ready for the race.”

-SIC Racing Team facebook.
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