There are no words to describe the spectacular come back of Enea Bastianini, who from 21st place on the starting grid, with some fantastic racing, conquered all but one in the final rush. In the last moments of the race he lost out by hair and earned a well-deserved second place in front of the other our rider Danny Kent. A very good 11th place for Andrea Locatelli and also the 13th of Karel Hanika.
In MotoGP Marco Melandri, who came 21st under the checkered flag, persists with the development of the green Aprilia. Despite being slowed down by a defective tyre, Danilo Petrucci earned a very good the 12th place.
Next race: April 12th in United States.
ENEA BASTIANINI: Nolan X-802R
“It’s been an incredible race and certainly an unexpected result: during the weekend we had some problems, but we managed to solve them quickly, and above all I managed to change the way I ride this bike. I believe that this thing made the difference: now I know how to ride this Honda and on this front the support of HRC and of my technicians helped me so much. I also think that in the race I understood many other things that will be useful in the forthcoming races. On the last lap I have not adopted strategies: I took the head and since I opened a little gap, I did’nt do any calculations but I just decided to push hard all the way to try to win. I didn’t succeed, but that's okay: I have collected valuable points and I'm delighted”.
ANDREA LOCATELLI: X-lite X-802R
“I'm happy, it’s been a good opening race! In the end I wanted to get something more, because we were all very close, but that’s ok, it’s only the first race! I collected important points and I know that keep working we can improve. We kept a good pace in the race and we managed to stay with the fastest, so I thank the team who did a great job all weekend. Stay in the fight in the leading positions teaches much and I certainly need more experience: I’m confident, let’s continue like this and surely will come other good results”.
DANILO PETRUCCI: X-lite X-802R
"The evaluation of this week end is very positive but I am sure we can do better during the race. I didn't start off well but eventually I recovered during the first two bends and I managed to gain a position. Later I felt that something strange was going on with the back tire and that made me waste almost 5 seconds in laps. Things then got better and I eventually went faster...even better than the beginning. This is only the first race and I am sure that in Austin we will do better. Three Italian racers on the podium? I am very happy with it. My target is being one of them one day. I hope it will happen very soon. In the meantime let me thank the team that did a great job. We have to continue this way because we are doing it right."
MARCO MELANDRI: Nolan X-802R
"It wasn't the fastest race of my life, but on a new bike in a new category it's what we expected. On the other hand, we finished the race, our first true long run, and we gathered a lot of data that will be essential to our development process. We need time. When the bike starts working well my riding style will also improve and we'll be able to take a decisive step. Now it's up to the guys at Aprilia to interpret my sensations and translate them into changes to the RS-GP. We have some more complicated races ahead of us, since I am unfamiliar with the Austin and Argentina tracks, but they will give us more pointers to work on."
