It was a weekend with good placement and
points for the championship but without any podium and unfortunately, a lot of
bad luck.
During the America GP, in Moto3, Bastianini,
after a good start from the first row (third place), he had to face a lot of
difficulties in order to ride with the full fuel tank at the beginning of the
race,plus he wasn’t able to repeat the results of the practices. Enea, in any
case, took a good 6th place. Kornfeil came 11th with a very good start at the
beginning of the race, despite fighting with Bastianini during the 4th place,
but unfortunately a problem with the rear tyre compelled him to loose position
in the second part of the GP.
Moto 2 delivered unfortunate results for
Danny Kent; in addition to being in trouble all weekend, he had to abandon the
race due to clutch problems. However, there were good positions in MotoGP for
Michele Pirro - substitute of Danilo Petrucci who came eight and Stefan Brad l- 10th who continues to receive
valuable points with his young Aprilia.
Getting back to Europe, in France, for the
legendary 24hr of Le Mans,luck did not help at all our riders: Horst Sanger
forced to retire with a broken gearbox on his Kawasaki after he was also in
second place . Same fate for David Checa with Team Yamaha GMT94 forced to
retire after three falls of his team mates.
Next race at Assen on April 17 with the
Superbike .
Here are some statements of our riders:
ENEA BASTIANINI - 6th
“Unfortunately, once again we’ve been very
fast in the last part of the race, but we struggled in the early laps. At the
moment it seems that we are struggling with the full tank and consequently in
the early stages of the race I was not able to push to remain with the other
riders in the lead. Then, halfway through the race, I found myself together
with some riders who were stronger than me on the brakes: I could not brake as
I wanted and the other riders were always overtaking me, breaking my pace. At that
point I definitely lost contact with Binder and Quartararo. Too bad, I’m
convinced that I had the potential to attack in the final stages of the race,
but the races are like that. We need to work to be faster in the first part”..
JAKUB KORNFEIL - 11th
“I’m very disappointed because I wanted
completely different results today. I made a good start and everything was
going well. I was P4 so I just tried to get my head down and push for the race.
I was staying behind Bastianini and another guy and I felt quite comfortable
but then they started pushing more and in that moment I started losing time and
positions. When we arrived to the middle of the race the riders behind me
started to catch me because I was making slower laps and was not able to keep
the pace. Unfortunately they caught and passed me, so from there I was just
trying to survive and collect some points. I wanted to pass them back but it
was impossible; my tyre was completely gone. I felt so bad. I’m really sorry
for the team because they did such a good job and we did a good qualifying, but
in the end it was for nothing. In two weeks’ time we have another chance and
this is what I will focus on now.”
MICHELE PIRRO - 8th
“I am very happy and I must thank the team
because after the difficulties of yesterday they made me feel at ease. I
started behind, and I tried to advance without making mistakes. I am glad for
that. Personal satisfactions? Yes, of course. It is not easy for me, I am
always in hurry. I have to thank those who gave me this opportunity. I
always try to do my best. Sometimes it goes well, others not. Now we go back to
Europe, and I look forward to having another opportunity.”
STEFAN BRADL - 10th
“A great result for us. I was quite
competitive throughout the weekend. We made great progress, especially with the
electronics. I am pleased because we continue to test and improve with every
session. We are moving in the right direction. The team did a great job. Before
the race I was very relaxed because I knew that I had a good pace. I lost a few
positions at the start, just like in Argentina. I still don't have quite the
right feeling releasing the clutch and, especially here with the first turn on
an uphill, missing that initial launch becomes a problem. In the turns the
RS-GP really performed well. We are still lacking something in terms of power,
but I'm confident because the guys at Aprilia ensured me that important updates
are on the way”.
DANNY KENT – DNF
“Finally it was a really disappointing
weekend for me and the team. We’ve struggled throughout and to make things
worse we went into the race and found we had a clutch problem so had to retire.
It’s not what we want, sometimes this is part of racing. We had a lot of bad
luck this week and I’m sure we can go to Jerez and return to where we should
be. I feel we should be inside the top ten.”
