It was not necessary to wait this afternoon for Axel Pons, the son of double 250cc World Champion Sito Pons, to shatter the unofficial record at the Jerez de la Frontera track.
And not just a little since his 1'41.730 sends all previous remarkable performances to oblivion, starting with Claudio Corti's 1'41.983 in 2012, the 1'42.361 achieved by Simone Corsi 10 days ago, without even mentioning from Tom Luthi's 1'42.271 yesterday.
And not just a little since his 1'41.730 sends all previous remarkable performances to oblivion, starting with Claudio Corti's 1'41.983 in 2012, the 1'42.361 achieved by Simone Corsi 10 days ago, without even mentioning from Tom Luthi's 1'42.271 yesterday.
So obviously, without wanting to underestimate his (real) talent but without tongue in cheek either, given that Axel Pons has never been, until now, what we could call a headliner , we come to ask ourselves questions, especially since no one, apart from him, has gone below the 1'42 mark today...
Without prejudging which one might be predominant, there can a priori be several kinds of answers:
– Axel Pons suddenly became faster than everyone, in a sort of “state of grace” that happens to every driver from time to time…
– Axel Pons benefited from a combination of favorable factors, such as aspirations in the right places…
– The Jerez track was particularly fast this morning, but no one noticed…
– Its engine (unofficial) worked particularly well…
– Its (unofficial) electronics worked particularly well…
– Axel Pons suddenly became faster than everyone, in a sort of “state of grace” that happens to every driver from time to time…
– Axel Pons benefited from a combination of favorable factors, such as aspirations in the right places…
– The Jerez track was particularly fast this morning, but no one noticed…
– Its engine (unofficial) worked particularly well…
– Its (unofficial) electronics worked particularly well…
To try to find out a little more, we contacted one of the pillars of the category, who told us via text message from Jerez: “lots of different tires circulating in the paddock, some engines are clearly far from stock and some electronics look like a MotoGP from the side of the track. In summary, I doubt there will be many 1'41s at the next Spanish GP…”
As a reminder, Axel Pons finished 19th in the 2015 championship, with 41 points and nevertheless some solid results to his credit; 7th in Indianapolis, as well as 8th in Valencia and 9th in Mugello.
Morning timetable:
Combined ranking of the two days:
