Motegi Moto2: FTR & Abraham on Podium

MotoGP News

FTR MOTO took an eighth podium finish of the year as the Cardion AB Motoracing Team’s Karel Abraham scored a career-best third place in round 13 of the Moto2 World Championship at Motegi in Japan on Sunday.

Abraham started the 23-lap race from seventh place on the grid – his best qualifying performance of the year – and was holding eighth place after the first lap. The Czech Republic rider then eased through to fifth by the halfway point before grabbing third from Alex de Angelis on the final lap.

Karel Abraham says: "To achieve a podium finish feels great. On the last lap I wasn’t sure I could get third or hold on to it but I just tried as hard as I could and it worked out."

Alex Debon, on the Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team M210, took 10th place for his fifth point-scoring finish of the year, the Spaniard battling through from 26th place on the starting grid.

The FIMMCO Speed Up Team’s Andrea Iannone was making good progress and was in 11th place and in touch with the leaders until the Italian ran wide on the seventh lap, dropped to 19th and would eventually fight back to finish in 13th place.

Gabor Talmacsi, a podium finisher in the last round, fought through a tough weekend in Motegi and finished the race in 21st place on the second of the FIMMCO Speed Up M210s.

Iannone is third in the Championship with Talmacsi retaining sixth place while Debon sits in 12th. Abraham’s third place had moved him up to 15th in the World Championship with four rounds remaining – in Malaysia, Australia, Portugal and Spain.

Steve Bones (FTR Manager) says: "What a great day for Karel and the team. After his fourth place in Catalunya and fifth in Germany Karel looked odds on to secure a podium finish but then his heavy crash at the Czech Republic round really set him back."

"He’s laid a great foundation for the remainder of the season and will now have the confidence to look for a first win on the FTR. Overall the Motegi round proved a tough one and also a strange one in terms of Andrea Iannone and Gabor Talmacsi."

"After both finished on the podium in Aragon we thought they would be challenging for the win again but a lot of inconsistencies are purely down to Moto2 being a new series and the teams having no reference data from previous years."

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