SIC RACING TEAM Riders Battle In Close Qualifying At Argentina

Argentina – Saturday 8th April

With less than one second separating the first nineteen riders, SIC Racing Team duo Adam Norrodin and Ayumu Sasaki qualified in 21st and 25th place for tomorrow’s Moto3 Argentina Grand Prix.

Making no further changes to his #7 machine in free practice three, Adam Norrodin focussed his attentions on riding style and rhythm, reducing his fastest lap time by a further six tenths in the first of the day’s sessions. Heading into qualifying feeling confident with his setup, the Malaysian rider continued to improve his pace. Pushing on Norrodin looked set to claim a top ten position but running into traffic on his fastest lap resulted in the 18-year-old losing both valuable time and positions.

Free practice three saw Ayumu Sasaki make a solid step with the setup of his Honda NSF250RW machine. With a better feeling on board the #71 bike, the Moto3 rookie worked hard to pick up the pace but despite improving his time was unable to make a significant impact on his position, in what turned out to be an exceptionally close qualifying session.

Circuit: Termas de Río Hondo
Circuit Length: 4.8 km

Bike #7 – Adam Norrodin
QP: P21; 1’50.126 – 15 laps

Bike #71 – Ayumu Sasaki
QP: P25; 1’50.668 – 15 laps

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager

“We’ve had some difficulties from the start of this weekend but nevertheless this qualifying was not what we had hoped for.
Adam’s pace is quite good, so the results could have been better for him today. His sector times are good and he has the speed but he just couldn’t pull it all together on one lap. I still believe he has a strong chance tomorrow; if he gets a good start and goes with the front group he can run in the top ten for sure.
For Ayumu this is a new track and it’s not been very easy for him. Clearly he is disappointed from the qualifying, as are we, but there is still the race to go and this is where he shows his true ability. So let’s see tomorrow.”

#7 Adam Norrodin

“I’m quite disappointed with qualifying today because we ended up quite far back, although the lap times are so close. Despite the position, I’m happy with the setup of my bike. During the session I was able to further improve my lap time even with the used medium tyre. At the end I was really concentrating to push one more step but unfortunately on a good lap that would have put me in the 1m49s times, I lost four tenths in the final corner. Our qualifying position is not good but the feeling I have on the bike is and I’m confident that with a good start I can battle in the top ten. For sure it will be hard work for us but I will do everything I can to fight my way through the field. Tomorrow is what counts; we can still do well here.”

#71 Ayumu Sasaki

“We made a good step in FP3 this morning, so we started qualifying with a good pace. Unfortunately though towards the end of the session when we put the new tyre in, it started to rain. I struggled to push anymore after this so I wasn’t able to better my time any further. I’m not happy with my grid position for the race; I know I have a lot of work to do tomorrow; I have to improve! I must fight my way to the front.”

-SIC Racing Team.
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