Gowland fourth in Jerez Moto2 debut

FTR Moto’s new Moto2 machine put in its most impressive display to date as Graeme Gowland finished fourth in class and 13th overall among 1000cc Extreme class bikes at Jerez on Sunday

Gowland was riding the bike in the Joe Darcey Team colours in the penultimate round of the Spanish CEV Buckler championship and finished just 3.5s behind the first-placed Moto2 machine after 17 laps of the 2.752-mile circuit near Gibraltar.

Gowland was 19th fastest in the opening qualifying session then improved to qualify in 18th. In the race he further improved his lap time from qualifying by 0.2s, on his way to 13th place.

Gowland said: “I managed to get through the field in the first half of the race and was hoping to finish even higher but as the tyres became worn then the characteristic of the machine changed.

“We have to be happy with what we’ve achieved this weekend. It’s the first time for all of us at Jerez with the machine and my first race weekend with the FTR prototype so the result is pretty good.

“We’ve learned a lot and further developed the machine so, overall, great progress.”

The Joe Darcey Team now moves to Valencia for next Sunday’s final round of the series with further improvement expected.

FTR director Steve Bones said: “We’re over the moon with just how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.

“Graeme did the perfect job this weekend and it’s credit to him and the Joe Darcey Team that we’re able to move on to Valencia now with plenty of optimism.

“The interest in the machine has been overwhelming and we’ve quite a few riders now wanting us to organise tests for them so they can give the M209 a run for themselves.”