MUGELLO, Italy: The QMMF Racing Team riders Anthony West and Roman Ramos had a tough day at the Italian Grand Prix, finishing the crucial qualifying session in 29th and 33rd position.
After a strong opening day of practice, where West seemed to be in control in all different weather and track conditions, the 32-year-old Australian didn’t find back to his rhythm when it counted on yesterday afternoon.
Unable to improve on his best time from Friday morning, West struggled in the hectic of the qualifying battle and will now face the race with the monumental task of recovering from the tenth row of the grid.
Team-mate Roman Ramos had also expected more from his second day on the challenging Mugello track.
The 33-year-old Spaniard managed to improve by almost a second in comparison to Friday, but the additional speed was not enough to reward him with a better grid position.
Ramos still confronts the race with his unshakably positive attitude, trying to learn as much as possible and to turn the weekend into a positive experience.
West said: “We started reasonably well yesterday and I was hoping to be able to continue this way today. But somehow I didn’t find my rhythm in qualifying and I simply didn’t ride well,” he admitted.
He added that: “I tried to follow other riders, but I couldn’t stay with them and my lap time was slow. A lot of the other guys are usually slower than me and I should have qualified in front of them.”
West further added: “I’m sorry for the guys in the team who worked hard to give me the best possible set-up.”
The QMMF Team rider, however hoped to bounce back.
“I can’t blame the bike, it’s up to me to make changes to my way of riding. I will do my best in the race tomorrow and then try to approach the next races with a new mindset. Ramos who finished on 33rd position said: “We tried to continue in our line of work today, but we somehow lost direction.”
Ramos who is making debut at Mugello termed the circuit tough.
“Mugello is a big challenge both in terms of riding and finding the right set-up for the bike. It will be interesting to see what we can achieve during the tests here after the Grand Prix, but we obviously didn’t have enough time to solve all our problems and to make a significant improvement for the race,” he said.
Ramos also hoped to improve his performance. “We will try some more things in the warm-up tomorrow in order to make riding as easy as possible. I hope to be able to do a good race and finish the weekend with a positive experience.”THE PENINSULA
