Bradley Smith is hopeful of racing with the frontrunners in tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix despite carrying painful injuries. The Briton qualified sixth despite breaking two toes in a practice crash and is expecting a painful afternoon physically on Sunday, although he still expects to be competitive.
“To be on the second row is a great result considering my physical condition because it was incredibly hard work. I just had to grit my teeth and brave the pain and it is great to be rewarded with a top six. I need to say a big thanks to the Clinica Mobile staff because without them I wouldn’t be able to ride. They’ve done a fantastic job to help me but I know it will be a long and tough race. The heat and humidity makes it even harder when you are not 100% fit at this track, but I will get plenty of rest tonight and ice the foot again. I’m a little bit battered and bruised after two big crashes in a week and my foot is not great. I’ve got a crack in the fourth toe at the joint and a crack in my big toe. But I will be giving it my best shot tomorrow and I’m still confident I can be battling at the front.”
Tech 3 teammate Xavier Simeon has work to do from 24th on the grid after a poor qualifying session but expects his race pace to take him towards the points.
“Today was not a very good result and it will be a tough race tomorrow. My race pace is not too bad but when I needed to push for the fast lap time at the end I wasn’t as fast as I expected. It is going to be an intense battle tomorrow because I have to make a lot of passes to get into the points, and with the heat and humidity it is going to be a very demanding race. The Mistral 610 though is normally really strong over the race distance, so I am convinced I will be able to fight for some points. As always I will be giving 100% to get the best result I can for the Tech 3 Racing Team.”
