Following their best result of the season so far at the French Grand Prix, the DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team are ready to continue their positive momentum in Italy, as they head to the Autodromo del Mugello for round six of the Moto3 Championship.
Situated in the picturesque countryside of Tuscany, the Gran Premio d’Italia is one of the most popular events of the season. At 5.2km long it is also one of the longest tracks on the calendar, consisting of six left and nine-right hand corners, with a straight measuring at 1.141km in length.
Having raised his position in the championship to fourteenth following a solid sixth place finish at Le Mans, Jakub Kornfeil is all set to come out fighting from the start. The Czech rider will be aiming to build on his progress with another strong result.
Scoring his first points of the season, a reenergised Zulfahmi Khairuddin is feeling confident he can achieve more and is determined to improve his performance and make further progress in Italy.
Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager
“Mugello is one of the most beautiful circuits in the world. It’s a great track with a lot of variety including changes in elevation and direction of the chicanes, which make it very challenging. At the same time, many riders enjoy it. It’s about getting a flow from the first corner to the last. It also has a very long fast straight, which for the Moto3 class it is very important to stay in the slip steam here and especially in the race.
We are heading into this next Grand Prix after a pretty good result at Le Mans; both riders are now in the points. With Jakub for the past few races he has been circulating around the top six, which is very good, so I hope that he can continue this form in Mugello. I am also very happy that Fahmi has taken a big step forward now and he did exactly what he said he was going to do in France. Mugello is one of Fahmi’s favourite tracks, so it will be interesting to see what he can do this weekend. As always we must be strong from the first practice and make a good strategy for the race. Let’s see also how the conditions will be in terms of temperature, as we are used to the high temperatures from our testing in Malaysia at the start of the year. I feel we are more prepared than ever and we are continuing to learn as a team all the time.”
#63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin
“Mugello is one of the best Grand Prix’s on the MotoGP calendar and I like it a lot. I’m always fast there so it’s one of my favourites. Even last year I finished eleventh in the race so I know we can do well. There are a lot of fast corners and also chicanes, which is what we improved on from the last GP. The set-up we had for the race in Le Mans was the best we’ve had this year, so I hope that we will keep it quite similar for Mugello. The KTM is getting stronger and stronger so there is no reason why we cannot be fast. We just need to continue to work hard every session to improve. My aim for Mugello is to collect more points. In our last race we finished fourteenth and this has been very good for building confidence back, both for myself and for the team, so I want to continue this progress. I believe that I can fight for the points every race and with the bike that we have now, we can be consistently competitive.”
#84 Jakub Kornfeil
“To ride at Mugello is something very special. If you compare it to the other championship circuits it is really quite different. It’s in such an amazing place, surrounded by hills and the atmosphere there is always great. The track is fast and enjoyable to ride and I think for the KTM it should be quite good because you don’t have to stop the bike so much. You always have to keep your high speed through the corners, which is good fun! We will have to change our set-up from Le Mans but I think there is a big chance of success for the KTM at Mugello. The most important element to focus on will be the gearbox. I believe also KTM will bring some new parts for us again, so this will be good. Going into this next GP I am feeling very positive; although the bike was not perfect at Le Mans I was still able to stay with the leading group throughout the race and for this reason I am very happy. The Mugello track I like a lot more, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve. I will push from the first practice and I’m going to do the best that I can, so if we can finish in the top six again, this will be great.”
