Julian Simon will be riding for BQRs Moto2 team in 2012. The Spanish rider had a horrible 2011 season conditioned by a broken leg that he sustained during the Catalunya race when he was clipped by Kenan Sofuoglu and then had to undergo further surgery ahead of the Motegi round and is continuing his rehabilitation getting ready for the upcoming season.

Now Simon will be leaving Aspar Racing after spending three years with Martinez’ teams which included winning the 125cc World title in 2009 and in an interview with the Marca.com Simon states that he’s hopeful for an injury free season and that he’ll return to his winning ways on the FTR chassis.

Source | bikeracing.it

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Aspar Martinez will have his hands full, as he’ll have two substitute riders for the upcoming Australian GP at Phillip Island, Damian Cudlin has been confirmed and will be subbing for Hector Barbera who underwent collarbone surgery just yesterday, while Ivan Moreno will be replacing Julian Simon who is still recovering from his leg surgery, for both the Australian and Malaysian rounds.

This will be Australian’s second appearance in MotoGP after replacing Loris Capirossi at Motegi and where he’d like to make up the fact that he lost the front of GP11 and crashed out of 12th when he had with only eight laps to go.

This is a fabulous opportunity, and frankly I’m even struggling to believe it. For me it’s an honor to race in MotoGP, the best world championship, and even more wearing the colors of a team like Mapfre Aspar Team. My first experience was unforgettable in Japan and now, after just two weeks, I have another chance. Just last year I had the opportunity to race in the Australian GP, ​​but in the intermediate class. I am very happy, I feel very lucky and I want to take advantage of every minute of this experience. The level of competition is very high, I realized that at Motegi. Thanks to that experience I’ll be at Phillip Island with a greater level of preparation, and since I already know the track, I will address the weekend with more confidence, “ said Cudlin.

While Moreno who hails from the CEV Moto2 championship said, “I am thrilled and very excited about this opportunity! That a team like the Aspar Team has chosen me makes me very proud, but even more so because it is to replace a great world champion like Julito. I want the team to know that I really appreciate it and I take the opportunity to send a big hug to Simon, whom I’ve already called to wish the best that he’s 100% again soon. I’ve never had the chance to ride at any of the circuits, but I’ve played them many times on the PlayStation and I think they are circuits where I will feel very comfortable, they are fast and technical, which is what I do best. My goal is to learn everything I can from this experience and make the most of it. I will do everything possible to achieve good results, but what matters most to me is that the team will be left with a good impression of my work. I think if I can do that, I will have used this opportunity as best as possible.”

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Forty-one days after fracturing his right tibia and fibula at the Catalunya GP after being hit by Kenan Sofuoglu Mapfre Aspar Moto2 rider Julian Simon is set to return for this weekend’s Sachsenring GP.

Simon to assess his physical recovery rode a Suter Moto2 bike belonging to the CEV Buckler Laglisse team last Sunday and did 15 laps at the Albacete track, and then underwent a further medical check-up at the Hospital USP San José where Dr. Villamor gave him the all clear to partecipate in the German GP, however the Spanish rider will still have to undergo the circuit’s medical commission physical, but considering that they let Valentino Rossi ride last year after breaking his leg, it will be a mere formality.

“I love Sachsenring and it is nice that my return will be at this circuit,” said Simon. “I have always been fast there although the main objective this weekend is to see how I feel after the operation and if possible finish the race. We will have to see how it goes but I am just looking forward to getting back amongst my team and back on my bike. The recovery has been tough, especially the last few days because you get impatient. It has been hard for me to watch the racing from home and now I plan to enjoy every minute on board the bike. We have to be realistic - I won’t be at 100% because it was a big injury and I have lost a lot of muscle mass but that takes nothing away from my excitement at going to Sachsenring.”

Continue reading: Julian Simon returns for Moto2 GP at Sachsenring

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Super team owner Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez looks like his decided to play Pygmalion/Henry Higgins in fielding replacement riders while Julian Simon is recovering from his fractured tibia and fibula sustained during the Catalunya GP.

After choosing CEV Moto2 rider Jordi Torres for the British GP, who unfortunately DNF’d in the very wet race, Martinez has decided to give another rider a chance to debut internationally and this time has chosen a female racer, Elena Rosell for the upcoming Assen GP.

25-year-old Rosell currently races in Extreme Stock series of the CEV championship and fourth in the standings, will be the first woman to compete in a GP race since Katja Poensgen took part in the now defunct 250cc championship eight years ago.

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The Race Direction hearing that took place yesterday afternoon to discuss the accident between Kenan Sofuoglu and Julian Simon that left the Spaniard with a fractured tiba and fibula during last Sunday’s Moto2 race at Catalunya, has cleared the Turkish rider from any blame.

“The Race Direction yesterday met with rider Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) and Sports Director from MAPFRE Aspar Team Gino Borsoi (ITA) to hear their explanations about the collision between rider Kenan Sofuoglu and Julián Simón (ESP) during the last week Moto2 race of the Catalan Grand Prix. After listening the comments of both parties and watching a video of the incident the Race Direction concluded that rider Kenan Sofuoglu made every possible effort to try to avoid the collision. No sanction was inflicted,” read the statement.

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After rumors that Raffaele de Rosa or Gabor Talmacsi could replace injured Julian Simon at Silverstone, insead Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez decided on a Spanish rider and will be fielding 23-year-old Jordi Torres as Simon’s temporary subsititute.

Torres is last year’s runner-up in the CEV Moto2 championship and this year is riding with Gigaset Laglisse Suter team, and has also wildcarded in 2010 at the Barcelona GP with PromoHarris MR Griful finishing 19th.

“Last night at 8 o’clock the phone rang, I answered and they asked me to race at Silverstone in the Moto2 World Championship,” said Jordi Torres. “It ’s really a dream, I took the first flight to the UK without even sleeping, because I’m so excited. For me it was a real surprise, because I have no international experience, expect as wild card last year in Barcelona and a World Supersport race in Valencia, and I don’t know Silverstone, but I’ll do anything to get a good result“.

Torres has been confirmed only for Silverstone at the moment, while Simon is expected to back in a month and a half after breaking his tibia in Catalunya. If you’re not the squeamish type, you can check out just how bad Simon’s break is here.

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Moto2 rider Julian Simon underwent surgery yesterday morning at the USP San José Hospital in Madrid to repair the fractures to his tibia and the fibula that he sustained during the Moto2 Catalunya race when Kenan Sofuoglu clipped the rear of his machine sending both of them into a horrific crash.

The operation was performed by doctors Angel Villamor, Dura and Agustin Rafael Garabito and carried out under epidural anesthesia (imagine hearing the noise of your bones being sawed and hammered at) and lasted three hours. Simon will have to undergo the usual rehabilitation and probably spend some time in a hyperbaric chamber to speed up his recovery, but no return date has been mentioned so far.

According to the latest rumors Simon’s replacement could be either Gabor Talmacsi or Raffaele De Rosa who was officially axed from the Nieto’s G22 team, just a week before the Spanish GP. Both riders were seen at Montmelò still looking for a ride.

Continue reading: Gabor Talmacsi or Raffaele di Rosa to replace Julian Simon at Silverstone?

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For years the Race Direction has been more or less lackadaisical in judging racing incidents, but in these last few rounds they’ve become much more present, first wanting to investigate the marshalls handling of the Valentino Rossi - Casey Stoner incident at Jerez, then the Marco Simoncelli - Dani Pedrosa incident at Le Mans where the Italian was given a ride-through penalty and then called by the Race Direction this weekend to make sure that he understood why he had been punished.

Today in the 125cc class we saw Johann Zarco get his victory stripped away from him with a 20 second penalty after he elbowed Nico Terol on to the grass at the last corner and now they want to investigate Kenan Sofuoglu-Julian Simon incident that happened during the Moto2 race.

The accident began when Sofuoglu clipped the rear wheel of Simon on lap 16. The Spaniard highsided and the Turkish rider ran off track but was unable to avoid hitting the tumbling Aspar rider.

Continue reading: Video: Race Direction to investigate Kenan Sofuoglu, Julian Simon incident

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Julián Simón took the top of the timesheets on day two of the three day Moto2 Valencia test yesterday, posting a best unofficial time of 1.36.0 which was 0.7s faster than Andrea Iannone and Alex de Angelis day 1 test times.

The first ten riders were all within eight tenths of second, with Gresini’s Yuki Takahashi making the biggest jump forward, shaving off massive 1.3 seconds from the previous day, while Iannone also improved slightly on his Thursday’s time, but could only claim the third spot.

Thomas Lüthi was fourth, followed by four riders, rookies Marc Marquez, Michele Pirro, British hopeful Scott Redding and debuting Moto2 team Ioda Racing with Simone Corsi all posting the same time, 1.36.6.

Alex de Angelis who was tied for the top spot on the opening day with Iannone dropped back to ninth, while Stefan Bradl closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: Moto2 Valencia tests day 2: Julian Simon fastest

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Karel Abraham took his first and only Moto2 victory in the season finale at Valencia today, before moving to MotoGP next year with his own team.

The Czech rider came out on top in last lap thriller that saw five riders, Andrea Iannone, Julian Simon, Abraham, Toni Elias and Thomas Luthi all going for the win, but it was claimed by Abraham who was riding in fourth, when Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias in an aggressive and almost an impossible move to take Julian Simon’s second place ran into the side of Andrea Iannone’s bike.

Iannone didn’t crash and finished second with Abraham slipping in front of the scattered pack to finish first on the chequered flag,but Elias’ wild move cost Iannone the lead and second place in the final standings, while the Spaniard ended up in the gravel trap and would rejoin and finish 30th.

Third went to Julian Simon followed by Thomas Luthi and Scott Redding who managed to hold off Alex de Angelis for fifth.

Continue reading: Moto2 Valencia: Karel Abraham wins in last lap upset

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Toni Elias grabbed a further hold on the Moto2 championship by winning his third straight race at Indianapolis. The Gresini Moriwaki rider despite suffering from a bad case of the flu was able to prevail again in a red flagged and shortened race.

The first start had to red flagged due to two separate multi pile-ups at Turn 2, with Lukas Pesek (who started the cannonball incident) Gabor Talmacsi, Simone Corsi and Michael Ranseder all going down and in the second, which included Yonny Hernandez, RogerLee Hayden, Shoya Tomizawa and Vladimir Ivanov. The race was shortened to 17 laps with Ranseder and Tomizawa unable to return to action in the restart, while Simone Corsi was pushed back to the last place on the grid for being late.

In the restart Elias got the hole shot while pole man Julian Simon dropped to fourth behind Anthony West and Scott Redding. Simon got past Redding on the third lap and then set his sights on West and got past him and then overtook Elias on lap four, while the back of the field was another crash fest. Ivanov took out Debon, Faubel binned his Suter while he was running in fifth with a trail of gas spilling out and catching fire on the asphalt. Bradl went down after tangling with Cluzel and the three front runners started distancing the rest of the group.

Continue reading: Video - Moto2 Indianapolis: Toni Elias wins in crash strewn race

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In an exciting Moto2 race Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) took his first ever GP victory after a last-lap battle with Thomas Luthi and Julian Simon where the French rider crossed under the chequered flag before Luthi by just 0.057s.

Pole man Claudio Corti took the head of the race for the first three laps and then he and Julian Simon began a two way battle for the lead until Jules Cluzel decided to become a part of the two front runners while Simone Corsi and Stefan Bradl collided and ended up in the kitty litter and were unable to re-join the race.

Hard charging Swiss rider Thomas Luthi who took off from 9th on the grid started on the 10th lap putting in a series of fast laps (2′09″886 on lap 11) and moving through the field to put himself in fourth and begin his battle for the lead and taking it with just three laps to go.

Claudio Corti crashed out at the Vale on the penultimate lap leaving Luthi more room, but the Interwetten Moriwaki rider would make a costly mistake, outbraking himself and running wide letting Jules Cluzel through and the Frenchman would keep all the doors closed till the finish line.

Continue reading: Moto2 Silverstone: Jules Cluzel Wins in Three Way Battle

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