EIGHTH PLACE FOR BAGNAIA IN CATALUNYA_MOTO2
The rider of the Sky Racing Team VR46 maintains the head of the Championship after a very difficult race at Montmelo. 17th Marini Luca.
Montmelo (Catalunya, Spain), June 17, 2018 – A race more difficult than we expected for the riders of the Sky Racing Team VR46 the one that has just ended at Montmelo. Francesco Bagnaia, really consistent throughout the weekend, in the race, can not fight for the leading positions, due to a defective tire, and crosses the finishing line in eighth place. 17th Luca Marini, forced to give positions due to a vibration on the back of his Kalex.
Pecco, started from the fourth box of the grid, from the first laps, struggled to keep the pace of the group of the strongest guys for an unexpected loss of grip. Fighting for the Top10 right under the checkered flag, he hits an eighth place that allows him to maintain the leadership in the Championship (119 points).
Complicated Sunday also for Luca, 13th at the start and with the top ten in the viewfinder. After managing an abnormal vibration at the rear of his KTM for the whole race, he closed 17th.
I was expecting a different Sunday: Pecco has proved to be really competitive and fast on this track, he has been constant in all the sessions and it is a pity, that today, has not been able to demonstrate his real potential due to a defective tyre. Considering the situation, he did a great race and was able to collect important points for the Championship. Luca also did a great job, but he had some problems with the rear tyre and he was not able to hit the Top 10 which was certainly close to him.
It was not the race I expected for. We started, as we have planned, considering the temperatures, without pushing too much to avoid the consumption of the rear tyre. Unfortunately, from the fourth lap, I started losing grip, something was wrong in the rear tyre and I really struggled to finish the race. I tried to manage the situation in the best way to cross the finishing line and collect points for the Championship. We have been competitive all the weekend and it is difficult to accept that we could not fight for the leading positions due to the tire.
A very difficult race, from the first laps, I started to feel something strange at the rear tyre that I had never had during the weekend. Unfortunately, this prevented me from keeping my pace and pushing hard to recover positions. It was difficult to manage the bike and I regret not having done the race I was hoping for: we worked hard for all the weekend and being influenced by an external factor is not what we hoped for.