Marcel Schrotter was keen to take the positives from this week’s Jerez testing washout having set the fastest time on the final day. The German was a second clear of Julian Simon in today’s wet conditions and despite failing to complete a dry lap all week, the Tech 3 rider will travel to Qatar next week in high spirits.
“Even though this test was wet, I was able to build up a good amount of confidence from the first turn of the wheel on the opening day. I felt very comfortable on the Mistral with every run I did, so I am convinced that we improved significantly from this point of view. Furthermore, we confirmed our potential in wet conditions as we set the fastest time today. It’s a pity that we were not able to get some dry track time under our belts as we still have plenty of things to try, which means that we will have a busy schedule as soon as we arrive in Qatar. We weren’t able to run one dry lap during these three days and yesterday when the conditions were at their best, we decided that it would have been quite risky to go out, so we opted to stay in the box. Now, I just have to carry the positive feeling from here to Qatar, where I will give it my all to begin the season positively and hopefully there won’t be any inconveniences.”
Teammate Ricard Cardus also shone in the wet, going fourth fastest on Thursday, and despite the disruption to his preparations, the Spaniard will head to Qatar with the aim of scoring points.
“It was another three difficult days because the rain really didn’t help us and we couldn’t make the most of the testing time due to this. For all three of the winter tests the weather wasn’t great, but despite that, I was always in the top five in wet conditions. We switched back to the suspension configurations which we used from last year and during the last test, where the conditions were a bit drier, as well as here in the wet, I felt much more confident on the bike. Now I am already looking forward to Qatar where we will aim to utilise the practice sessions in order to get the best possible setup for our 2015 bike for the first race, as I want to finish with a top fifteen placing to kick off the season on a high.”
