Vermeulen struggles in MotoGP return

Substituting for the injured Colin Edwards on the NGM Mobile Forward Racing CRT bike, Vermeulen fell foul of the elements. Forced to pit halfway through the race with a helmet problem, Vermeulen managed to re-join and was classified in 17th at the finish.

Despite the result, Vermeulen and the team saw the Le Mans race as valuable for data collection and development of the still relatively new Suter-BMW machine. The team took the opportunity to test the bike's wet weather set-up and work on the electronics package, which is currently the bike's main area for improvement.

"The race conditions today were very difficult but we had to go out and do it," Vermeulen said after the race. "For me it was a long time ago since I rode in the rain. I think that for the bike and the team, they have limited experience in these conditions. Early on, it was raining a lot and was very cold, making it was difficult to generate heat into the tires and we struggled a lot.

"The more laps we did and as the track dried a little bit, it suited our setting a lot more and I was able to go reasonably fast. At some point I was close to be as quick as any of the other CRT bikes during the race. I had to pit in because I had some vision problems with my helmet. It was unfortunate that it happened, it really affected our race.

"It's been a long time since I have ridden in the rain but I was glad to be back racing in MotoGP and hopefully the information we gave to the team and Suter can help for the future."

Images: motogp.com