Top 20 for Loi as Danilo hits his target

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Livio Loi bounced back from set-up issues in practice and qualifying to finish a creditable 20th in today’s Czech Moto3 Grand Prix.

Jules Danilo came to Brno looking for a finish inside the top 25. The 18-year-old Frenchman leaves the Czech Republic having achieved his goal, after finishing in 24th position in today’s race.

Looking to add to his championship points tally today, Loi wasted no time in making up places after starting the race from 24th position on the grid. Having battled with Romano Fenati and Jasper Iwema throughout the race, the 16-year-old Belgian had fought his way up to 15th and looked set to add to his world championship points tally. With just two laps to go a collision with Jasper Iwema pushed Loi wide and he dropped back to 22nd, recovering two places to eventually finish 20th.

Danilo got a good start from 34th on the grid, but made up six places in the first chicane and then a further three places on the opening lap, to tag onto the group contesting 15th position. The Frenchman spent all but the last three laps in a battle with this group of ten riders, but dropped back after being caught up in Lorenzo Baldassarri’s crash and was eventually caught and passed out of the slipstream for 23rd place by Ana Carrasco.

Livio Loi #11: 20th

“I got a good start today, immediately getting into a battle with Romano Fenati and Jasper Iwema that went on for the whole race. I had the pace to lead, but not quite enough to get away from them, so it was always going to come down to the last few laps. With three laps to go Fenati came up the inside of me at turn four, Iwema tried to follow him through and we touched. I had to sit the bike up and come off the throttle, which allowed the group behind through on the inside. I managed to retake a few places on the final lap to take 20th at the line. I’m disappointed to have missed out on the points, but it was a good race and I enjoyed the battle.”

Jules Danilo #95: 24th

“I got a normal start, but then I managed to get up the inside of a big group of riders into the first chicane, passed a few more later in the same lap and made contact with the group disputing 15th to 25th place. I was fighting like crazy with Philipp Öttl, but then Lorenzo Baldassarri highsided late in the race, Brad Binder hit his bike and touched me, pushing me wide. I lost contact with the group and got caught by Ana Carrasco right at the end. I enjoyed the race; it’s amazing how fast it seems to go when you’re battling in a group, rather than riding on your own. I’m happy to achieved my goal after a difficult start to the weekend and I leave here having gained a lot of valuable experience.”

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Loi on the hunt for points as Danilo returns at Brno

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Livio Loi heads to the tenth round of the Moto3 World Championship at Brno looking for more World Championship points, while Jules Danilo is keen to showcase his talents aboard the Kalex-KTM, as he returns for his second wildcard appearance of the season with the Marc VDS Racing Team.

Indianapolis may have been a new circuit for Loi, but that didn’t stop the 16-year-old Belgian from putting in his best performance of the season so far. After qualifying in 11th position on the grid, his best yet aboard the Kalex-KTM, Loi went on to collect two more World Championship points in the race with a 14th place finish. The Marc VDS rider heads to Brno with his confidence restored and with his sights set firmly on the top ten, both in qualifying and the race.

Brno will mark Danilo’s second appearance for the Marc VDS Racing Team, having already contested his home race at Le Mans earlier in the year. The 18-year-old Frenchman heads to Brno with far more Grand Prix experience under his belt this time around though, having stood in for the injured Danny Webb at Ambrogio Racing for both the Sachsenring and Indianapolis rounds.

It promises to be a busy weekend for Danilo in the Czech Republic. Not only must the Frenchman adapt once again to riding the Kalex-KTM after two races on a Suter Honda, he’ll also face learning his way around the 5.403km Brno circuit, having never raced there previously.

Located 200 kilometres southeast of the Czech capitol, Prague, the current Brno circuit was constructed in 1987. Before that, Grand Prix races were held on a public roads circuit, with literally hundreds of thousands of Czech motorcycle racing fans turning out to watch from the roadside.

While the crowd for this weekend is likely to somewhat smaller, the enthusiasm of the present day Czech race fans can be relied upon to easily match that of their predecessors from the 1970s.

Livio Loi: #11

“Indianapolis was the best weekend so far for me in the Moto3 World Championship, at a track I only saw for the first time on Thursday. Brno will be different this weekend because it’s a circuit I know, having raced to a win and a podium finish in the two Rookies Cup races there last season. Only a mistake early in the Indianapolis race cost me a top ten finish, so we know a top ten finish is a realistic goal at Brno this weekend.”

Jules Danilo: #95

“Sachsenring and Indianapolis were two hard races, as it was difficult for me to adapt to the Suter Honda. It was good experience, but I’m excited to be back aboard the Kalex-KTM this weekend, as it suits my riding style better and it’s also more competitive. I don’t know the Brno circuit; I’ve ridden around it but never raced there, so the first priority on Friday will be to learn my way around the track while reacquainting myself with the bike. I’ll be on a steep learning curve this weekend, but my goal is to show my potential and to finish inside the top 25 in the race on Sunday. If I can do that, then I’ll be happy.”

Marc VDS Racing Team Press Release

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Tough qualifying for Loi and Danilo at Le Mans

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Livio Loi will start tomorrow’s 24-lap Moto3 French Grand Prix from the seventh row of the grid, after qualifying in 21st position in Le Mans this afternoon. Jules Danilo, who makes his Grand Prix debut this weekend, qualified 26th and will start from the ninth row of the grid tomorrow.

A lack of rear grip continued to be a problem for Loi during today’s free practice and qualifying sessions. The 16-year-old Belgian was hoping for a significant improvement with the softer rear tyre in qualifying, but found himself unable to push for a faster lap time after encountering exactly the same issue.

After finishing yesterday’s free practice sessions in 17th position, Danilo was disappointed to qualify only on the ninth row of the grid. The French rider, who celebrates his 18th birthday today, set his fastest time of the weekend midway through qualifying but was unable to improve further in the remaining 20 minutes.

Both riders will make some changes to their Kalex-KTM Moto3 machines ahead of tomorrow’s 24-lap Moto3 French Grand Prix, which gets underway at 11.00 local time.

Livio Loi #11: 21st – 1’45.517

“I’m not so happy with qualifying today, because my feeling was that I could go much faster. We went with the softer option rear at first, but the grip just wasn’t there. The medium option we ran in the middle of the session felt a little better but, again, when we switched back to the soft the rear grip was non-existent and it was impossible to push for a fast lap time. It means that, just like in Jerez, I have more work to do in the race tomorrow, but I’ll be going for it!”

Jules Danilo #95: 26th – 1’45.741

“Qualifying was a quite hard today. I posted a good lap halfway through the session, but then I couldn’t seem to improve on it as the session progressed. So, it was a bit difficult towards the end, but it was still fun. For tomorrow’s race I’m not too worried, because I know if there’s someone in front of me then I should be able to stay with them. If I get in a good group early on then I think top 20 is possible, maybe even top 15.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

“I think we qualified where we expected, to be honest. Again we’ve seen that we cannot rely on the soft tyre giving us a significant improvement in the lap time during qualifying, but this will come as Livio gains more experience of how to get the best from the softer rubber. Livio has had the same problems in every session and, although we’ve managed to improve the set-up for him, we still need to find something more for tomorrow. Jules was happy yesterday, but a little bit disappointed with qualifying this afternoon. However, he’s two seconds faster than he was here earlier in the year and just two seconds off the time of Maverick Viñales, so I think he has little to be disappointed about.”

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On form Redding leads the way at Le Mans

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Scott Redding wasted no time in stamping his authority on proceedings during the opening day at Le Mans, topping the timesheet in both free practice session to lay down a marker for his championship rivals.

Mika Kallio was a little disappointed to finish the day only 13th fastest, despite improving his lap time this afternoon, to close to within a second of his Marc VDS teammate. The 30-year-old Finn still lacks the all-important confidence in the front of his Kalex Moto23 machine, a situation he is confident will be rectified by set-up changes ahead of tomorrow morning’s third and final free practice session.

Jules Danilo, who is making his Moto3 Grand Prix debut as a wild card rider this weekend at Le Mans, ended the day 17th fastest overall. The French rider, who celebrates his 18th birthday tomorrow, is confident of making further improvements ahead of the all-important qualifying session.

After struggling to find confidence in the front tyre in the cold conditions of this morning’s free practice session, it was the rear that caused Livio Loi issues this afternoon. Pumping from the rear suspension under acceleration meant the 16-year-old Belgian was unable to push for a fast lap time and he ended the day 20th on the timesheet.

Scott Redding #45: 1st – 1'38.203

“I like the Le Mans circuit, so my confidence was high coming into this weekend, especially off the back of three good results at tracks that were either new or a little unkind to me in the past. I’m feeling good on the bike here; we’ve had a couple of small issues during practice, but nothing that we haven’t been able to sort out quickly. The lap times today came without really pushing hard, so I know there’s more to come in qualifying if I need it. But this is Le Mans, so who knows what the weather will throw at us tomorrow. It could be dry or it could be wet, either way I think we’re in a good way here with the bike and the set-up.”

Mika Kallio #36: 13th – 1'39.174

“We ran the set-up we tested at Almeria this morning, but it didn’t give me the feeling with the front end that I was looking for. It meant I didn’t have the confidence on corner entry and that lost me a lot of time. We made some improvements to the front for the second session, but there’s still something missing. The bike just doesn’t feel right when I trail the brake into the corners. We have a few ideas for tomorrow, but we need to sit down tonight and decide in which direction to go. I’m not so happy with 13th but with the problems we’ve had, to finish within a second of Scott’s time is not too bad.”

Jules Danilo #95: 17th – 1’46.157

“We had some problems with the bike this morning, but the team managed to get everything sorted for this afternoon’s second free practice session. I’m happy with how things have gone today, as I felt confident on the bike this afternoon and we managed to improve the lap time with every exit. We still have a few things we want to improve on the bike but, overall, it’s been a good opening day at my first ever Grand Prix.”

Livio Loi #11: 20th – 1’46.295

“The track temperature was very low this morning, so it was difficult to have confidence in the front tyre. Conditions had improved for FP2, but I had a real problem with the rear suspension pumping under acceleration. Even with a new rear tyre the bike was unsettled on the throttle and I was losing time out of every corner. We need to fix the problem tonight ready for tomorrow, as you can win a lot of time on a Moto3 bike by getting on the gas both hard and early on corner exit, which I couldn’t do today.”

Marc VDS Racing Team Press Release

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Marc VDS to field four riders at Le Mans this weekend

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The Marc VDS Racing Team head this weekend to the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, where Scott Redding and Mika Kallio are keen to continue the run of form that has seen a Marc VDS rider finish on the podium in every Moto2 race so far this season.

Redding heads to Le Mans off the back of a second place finish in Jerez – where he was one of only two non-Spanish riders on the podium – and a successful two-day test at the Almeria Circuit. The 20-year-old Briton currently trails championship leader Tito Rabat by just a single point but is keen to reverse the positions this weekend, on a track at which he finished on the podium last season.

A crash that forced him out of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez saw Kallio drop to seventh in the championship standings, but the 30-year-old Finn heads to France determined to close the gap to the top five. Kallio has enjoyed success at Le Mans previously, twice finishing on the podium in the 125cc category and taking a hard fought fifth place in last year’s French Moto2 Grand Prix.

After an impressive debut that saw him finish in the points last time out in Jerez, Livio Loi heads to France with his sights set firmly on another top 15 finish. The 16-year-old Belgian won the opening round of the French Moto3 Championship at the track earlier this year and arrives in France full of confidence after a successful two-day test at the Aragon circuit in Spain.

Joining Loi in the Marc VDS Moto3 box this weekend at Le Mans will be Frenchman Jules Danilo, who will be making the first of three wild card appearances with the Marc VDS Racing Team.

The Elf logo will be prominent on all four of the Marc VDS bikes and riders at Le Mans, as part of an agreement that will see the French oil and lubricants giant as the primary sponsor of the Marc VDS Racing Team at five races this season, starting with the French Grand Prix this weekend.

Scott Redding #45:

“It’s been a strong start to the season and, three races in, I’m just one point off the top of the championship standings. But this early on the championship standings are just names on a piece of paper. More important is approaching the Le Mans weekend as we have the previous three races, putting in the work during practice and qualifying to give us the best chance of a good result on Sunday. It’s worked for us so far, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t work again this weekend.”

Mika Kallio #36:

“We’ve put the disappointment of Jerez behind us now. The two-day test at Almeria was interesting, because we tried a set-up on the bike that is quite different to the one we’ve used for the first three races this season. The changes worked well at Almeria and we’re confident they’ll also work at Le Mans, where there are quite a few chicanes and hard braking points. An added advantage is that the revised set-up appears to offer more rear traction, which was our major problem in Jerez. Obviously we will confirm the new settings in practice at Le Mans, but I’m hopeful they’ll work and we’ll be back to where we were in Austin just two races ago.”

Livio Loi #11:

“It was good to finish in the points on my debut in Jerez, but now I need to do the same again this weekend in Le Mans. I won the French Championship race at Le Mans earlier this year, so I know the track, but I’m hoping for slightly less snow when we return for the Grand Prix this weekend! Qualifying on the seventh row of the grid in Jerez made the race more difficult for me, so I need to focus on improving my grid position at Le Mans. I need to be more aggressive, more on the limit in qualifying. I was pushing hard in Jerez, but I think there is still some time to find and, hopefully, I’ll be able to do this in Le Mans this weekend.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

“At every race so far this season we’ve had a Marc VDS rider on the Moto2 podium and this is a trend I’d like to see continue this weekend in Le Mans. It is the first race of the season at which Elf will be our primary sponsor and I’d like nothing more than to give them something to celebrate at their home race, just as we did last season. I know Scott and Mika feel the same way and, as they’ve shown already this year, both are capable of finishing on the podium. Livio started strongly with a points scoring finish on his Moto3 debut in Jerez, a success I hope he can repeat this weekend, on a track at which he has already won a race this season. I’d also like to extend a warm welcome to Jules Danilo, who joins us this weekend in Le Mans for the first of three wild card appearances he’ll make this season.”

Marc VDS Racing Team Press Release

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