William Dunlop - Valencia 250GP 1st Free Practice‏

[Mago]

Courtsey of williamdunlopracing

NOT ENOUGH SPEED

William Dunlop on the Bigman Racing 250 Honda, got a sharp awakening in his first free practice session for this weekends Spanish 250 Grand Prix in Valencia, with Dunlop admitting, that the chances of qualification are slim, as he simply does not have the speed to contend with the regular World Championship contenders.

In that first free practice, Dunlop was unclassified as he ended the session outside of the qualification time, some ten seconds adrift of fastest man on the circuit, Spain's Hector Barbera, with Dunlops fastest speed trap time being 234.6KPH, compared to Thomas Luthi on his Honda at 263.0KPH.

A further three seconds outside of the last place in qualifying times saw William take the 23rd fastest lap time of 1m46.972s, during the 18 laps of the Valencia circuit.

A few problems with the gearbox selection during his first session hampered his progression, but William does however envisage that he can take a further four seconds of Fridays times, but he is under no illusions that everyone else will also up their pace during 1st qualifying on Saturday.
 
William Dunlop: "This already has been a real eye opening.   When you look at how quick my 250 was at home, in that it was almost unbeatable, these grand prix bikes are about two steps further up the ladder.  I would go as far to say that they would beat the best 600 in the country. I did have a few wee problems with the gearbox today, but I expect to get that sorted overnight, and that should let me take a few more seconds of my times.   I really would like to qualify but realistically, I think that is out of my reach this weekend.  I will be giving it all I have tomorrow".
 

[Tel]

250 qualifing on now, and eurosport has gone tits up

[Tel]

Results of qualifying for the 250 class at Valencia:

Alex Debon took the last ever 250cc pole position at Valencia, but it brought the Valencia native little luck. Debon, who carries sponsorship from a regional airport, located just up the coast from Valencia, crashed heavily with just a couple of minutes left in the session caused by what looked like a seized engine. The Spaniard went straight on into the gravel, and was thrown off his bike just before he ran out of space and hit the barrier. Debon was then stretchered away, his condition as yet unknown.

Debon finished three tenths up on Marco Simoncelli, the Gilera rider having solved his earlier woes to improve his times significantly. His 2nd fastest time is his best result of the weekend so far, and was vital if Simoncelli is to keep his title hopes alive, as he needs to win the race to have any chance of the championship. Hector Barbera will start from alongside Simoncelli in 3rd, ahead of Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider putting in yet another strong qualifying performance. Hiroshi Aoyama heads up the second row, the Japanese rider setting the 5th fastest time of the session.

Result

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous
1 6 Alex DEBON APRILIA 1'36.116     
2 58 Marco SIMONCELLI GILERA 1'36.450 0.334 0.334
3 40 Hector BARBERA APRILIA 1'36.470 0.354 0.020
4 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT HONDA 1'36.563 0.447 0.093
5 4 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1'36.656 0.540 0.093
6 12 Thomas LUTHI APRILIA 1'36.985 0.869 0.329
7 17 Karel ABRAHAM APRILIA 1'37.271 1.155 0.286
8 75 Mattia PASINI APRILIA 1'37.278 1.162 0.007
9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA APRILIA 1'37.303 1.187 0.025
10 55 Hector FAUBEL HONDA 1'37.318 1.202 0.015
11 35 Raffaele DEROSA HONDA 1'37.365 1.249 0.047
12 25 Alex BALDOLINI APRILIA 1'37.577 1.461 0.212
13 16 Jules CLUZEL APRILIA 1'37.749 1.633 0.172
14 15 Roberto LOCATELLI GILERA 1'37.811 1.695 0.062
15 63 Mike DIMEGLIO APRILIA 1'37.958 1.842 0.147
16 48 Shoya TOMIZAWA HONDA 1'38.085 1.969 0.127
17 7 Axel PONS APRILIA 1'38.126 2.010 0.041
18 52 Lukas PESEK APRILIA 1'38.291 2.175 0.165
19 11 Balazs NEMETH APRILIA 1'38.737 2.621 0.446
20 73 Shuhei AOYAMA HONDA 1'38.795 2.679 0.058
21 53 Valentin DEBISE HONDA 1'39.283 3.167 0.488
22 56 Vladimir LEONOV APRILIA 1'40.371 4.255 1.088
23 8 Bastien CHESAUX APRILIA 1'41.605 5.489 1.234
24 10 Imre TOTH APRILIA 1'42.418 6.302 0.813
Not qualified (Out 107%) 1'42.844
* 33 William DUNLOP HONDA 1'42.906 6.790 0.488

 

* Have qualified for the race having achieved a time within 107 % of the fastest rider in a free practice session.

[Tel]

DUNLOP TO START ON ROW SEVEN

Ballymoney rider William Dunlop will start the final World 250cc Grand Prix of 2009 on row seven in Sundays 27 lap race at the Ricardo Circuit near Valencia in Spain.
After struggling in first free practice with a gearbox problem on Friday, the 24 year old son of the late Robert Dunlop, sheered four seconds of his personal best lap in free practice, and continued that through to the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.
A clearly delighted Dunlop said that the only thing that was now giving the Ballymoney man problems, was lack of speed.

William Dunlop: "I am very happy to have qualified. That was the object of this weekend, but after Fridays free practice I thought that even that was a step to far for us. The regular riders here in World 250GP have bikes that are about 20mph faster than mine...the difference is so unreal, and the other thing that I have learned, is that that are not very obliging riders at all, as some of them think that they seem to own the track and that no-one else should be out on it. I managed to take four seconds of my times which was very pleasing, but I am at my limit now, as I just cannot squeeze any more speed out of the PJ Flynn/Bigman Racing 250 Honda.
Just to be in Sundays race, is in itself very exciting, so a finish would be a real bonus to what already has been a exciting weekend for me".

VALENCIA GP250cc FINAL QUALIFYING TIMES
1 = Alex Debon Aprilia 1:36.116
2 = Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1:36.450
3 = Hector Barbera Aprilia 1:36.470
4 = Ratthapark Wilairet Honda 1:36.563
5 = Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1:36.656
6 = Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1:36.985

25 = William Dunlop Honda 1:42.906