| FTR MOTO2 MACHINE AND GOWLAND IMPRESS AT JEREZ |
 FTR MOTO’s new Moto2 World Championship machine put in its most impressive display to date as Graeme Gowland – riding in the Joe Darcey Team colours – took an excellent 13th place on the M209 in the Spanish Championship superbike sixth round at Jerez on Sunday. Gowland finished fourth in the 600cc Moto2 class against a full grid of 1000cc superbikes in the CEV Buckler Extreme class. And, in the first full race for the FTR Moto2 machine, Gowland was just 3.5s behind the first-placed Moto2 machine after 17 laps of the 2.752-mile circuit near Gibraltar. Gowland was 19th fastest in the opening qualifying session then improved to qualify in 18th. In the race he further improved his lap time from qualifying by 0.2s, on his way to 13th place. “I’m really pleased with the way the FTR machine went in the race,” said Gowland. “I managed to get through the field a bit in the first half of the race and was hoping to finish even higher but as the tyres became worn then the characteristic of the machine changed. “In all I think we have to be happy with what we’ve achieved this weekend. It’s the first time for all of us at Jerez with the machine and my first race weekend with the FTR prototype so the result is pretty good. We’ve learned a lot and further developed the machine so, overall, great progress.” The Joe Darcey Team now moves to Valencia for next Sunday’s final round of the CEV Buckler Spanish Championship with further improvement expected. FTR director Steve Bones said: “We’re over the moon with just how far we’ve come in such a short space of time. Graeme did the perfect job this weekend and it’s credit to him and the Joe Darcey Team that we’re able to move on to Valencia now with plenty of optimism. “The interest in the machine has been overwhelming and we’ve quite a few riders now wanting us to organise tests for them so they can give the M209 a run for themselves.” |
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