VOL. 51 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 11, 2014 P39
Briefly...
Remy Gardner, son of 1987 World
Champion Wayne, will embark on a
full-time grand prix career next year
after a surprise signing at Valencia
for the CIP Moto3 team. The 16-year-
old (turning 17 before the start of next
season) will race a Mahindra in the
junior class. Gardner Junior, a regu-
lar in Spain's CEV championship had
three wild card or substitute rides in
Moto3 this season, acquitting him-
self respectably and winning a first
championship point in Malaysia,
where he was 15th. Gardner had one
CEV podium finish, and was tenth in
the championship.
A moment of schadenfreude at the
end of qualifying, when Jorge Lo-
renzo–believing he was third-fast-
est–wheeled into parc ferme, where
the top three gather, only to have
to be wheeled out again and sent
back to his pit. He'd been knocked
to fourth at the last minute, when
Dani Pedrosa ran fractionally faster.
"I saw on my pit board I was third,
then I wasn't able to see properly on
the big screens, so I didn't realize
what had happened," he said, look-
ing displeased. More of an irritation
for him, however, was that teammate
Valentino Rossi had dropped behind
him the lap before his own fast run
and then followed along, using him
as a marker to claim his first pole
position since Le Mans in 2010. "It
happens all the time when a slower
rider follows to improve his time. But
I was surprised that it was Valentino
who did it," Lorenzo said. Rossi was
amused, but denied it had been de-
liberate. He had slowed because a
mistake on the second corner had
spoiled his intended fast run, and he
decided to save the tire and take an-
dry throughout practice and
qualifying, but as MotoGP, the
last race of the day, kicked off, it
started to spit. The white flags–
allowing bike changes–came out
at the start of the second of 30
laps. But the rain, such as it was,
stopped directly, only to begin
again halfway through.
It led to wildly varying lap times
and again raised the question of
whether it is safe to leave it to
Marc Marquez
celebrates his
record-braking
13
th
victory of the
season.
continued on next page
