Red Bull KTM 250 Makes GP Debut at Donington

Update: (See below) Anthony West Takes Second in Dream Debut

Australian rider Anthony West gave the Red Bull KTM 250 its official track debut in the opening qualifying session for the 2005 British Grand at Donington Park.

And it was an impressive performance with West finishing fifteenth on the provisional grid and less than two seconds off pole position.

West and the KTM team came to Donington after just two days of shakedown trials at the Vallelunga circuit in Italy.  Despite some minor teething problems which stopped one West’s bikes, the new KTM 250 showed great potential.

Much of the two hours of practice and qualifying was taken up with establishing base settings for engine, suspension and gearbox for the all-new KTM 250.

The delayed debut of the new bike has also left West short of track time and the 23 year old Australian admits he needs more time to be return to reach his best form.

In the afternoon qualifying session West sliced 1.1 seconds off his morning free practice time despite.

There will be further two hours of practice and qualifying tomorrow on advance of Sunday’s race. Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo claimed provisional pole position in today’s first qualifying session.

Anthony West (#14) ran fifteenth in provisional qualifying at 1 minute, 34.402 seconds. 

“It’s a great feeling to finally be on the KTM at a grand prix, it’s been a long wait.  I’m feeling more confident each time I go out and getting faster and faster, which is pleasing, considering we still have a lot of set-up work to do.

Everything is new and we had to start from zero with gearbox and engine settings.  And I still need more track time, I’m making a few mistakes on the bike, turning in too early and things like that -- I haven’t done a lot of racing this year.  But the KTM has a nice feeling especially on corner entry, it reminds me a little fo the Honda 250 I used to ride.”

Harald Bartol, the Technical and Managing Director for Red Bull KTM, commented on progress. 

“I think that our first official day at a grand prix we can be happy with the performance of the new KTM 250.  We had some small problems that you typically get with a new bike.  Things like a petrol tap problem but hopefully we can fix some of the small things that cost us time today.  Anthony has done a good job considering he has missed a lot of track time this season compared to the other riders.”

UPDATE:  Anthony West Finishes Second in Dream Debut at Donington

Gran Prix World Championship, 8th Round, Race: Donington, GB (July 24, 2005)

Australian rider Anthony West gave the new Red Bull KTM 250 machine a dream debut with a storming second place in today’s rain soaked British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

West was a master of the water-logged track as he staged a breathtaking battle against Frenchman Randy de Puniet and fellow Australian Casey Stoner.

In a dramatic final two laps, West fought out a tough duel against De Puniet who won the race by just 1.2 seconds with Stoner in third place.

The result was the perfect debut for the new KTM 250 GP bike developed in Austria by Harald Bartol and his team.  Second place on the podium for West came just over an hour after Julian Simon had won the 125cc British GP, also on a KTM.

In pouring rain West rode a spectacular and very brave first lap and charged from 15th on the grid to be second at the end of lap one.

By lap three West had passed world champion Dani Pedrosa (Honda) to be in third place behind Hiroshi Aoyama and Randy de Puniet.  When Aoyama crashed out on lap 13 the race became a titanic three-way battle between De Puniet, West and Stoner.

The trio swapped positions many times with their bikes sliding wildly in the treacherous conditions. On the final lap West pushed hard to try and pass De Puniet and just saved a huge slide on his way to a brilliant second place.

The Red Bull KTM team is now motivated for the next race, the German GP, at the Sachsenring this coming Sunday (July 31).

West said “I’ve waited so long to race the Red Bull KTM and today made the wait worthwhile, the bike is very good and will only get better from here.  The track was unbelievably slippery and at the end of every lap I just thought “That’s a relief, I’ve finished another lap.”

I was just hoping to get some points today so second place is a big bonus for both me and the KTM team.  The KTM chassis is so predictable, with the handling and on the brakes, and this was a big help in these conditions.  And I like riding in the rain, the bike slides around a lot which is like dirt track and motocross where you learn throttle control.  A couple of times I thought about slowing down to make sure I finished but decided to keep racing with De Puniet and Casey.”

Harald Bartol the KTM Technical and Managing Director, commented “That was an unbelievable race and perfect result by Anthony.  I knew in these very wet conditions that Anthony would be up the front so I was just hoping that the bike had no problems.  This result is a reward for all the hard work by everyone in the Red Bull KTM team and a big motivation for the future.  It is the best thing that could have happened.”
 

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