The Spanish Grand Prix saw Ayumu Sasaki secure a point scoring 15th place in action packed Moto3 race. Despite struggling for rear grip, the sixteen –year-old relentlessly battled to retain his position and cross the line as the first rookie in today’s 23 lap race.
Teammate Adam Norrodin experienced an unfortunate end to his weekend, crashing out of the Grand Prix with eleven laps to go. The Malaysian rider escaped unhurt but was unable to re-join the action due to the significant damage caused to the #7 machine.
Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager
“The race for Ayumu today was good; he secured more points and this was the target. He made a pretty good start and stayed around fifteenth for the majority of the race. Unfortunately the front group were a bit too fast for him today, so he couldn’t follow them but he battled hard for his place in the points. He experienced some issues with grip but he was still fighting in the group for eleventh place. His result today is a step forward from the last two races, so I think we should be happy with this and carry the positive momentum and progress to Le Mans.
Unfortunately Adam didn’t make a good start and ended up fighting in a group quite far behind. We should have done a better qualifying with him; we need to always start from the top fifteen in order to be battling for the points. We need to analyse today’s race more as he had a crash and was unable to re-join. Thankfully he is alright.”
#7 ADAM NORRODIN – DNF
“The first lap of the race was very tough; there was a lot of fighting. I felt on the limit from the beginning; passing people was not easy. I tried to push but the second group had already pulled away. I knew my potential on the bike was not strong enough to catch them so I just tried my best to keep my position and fight off the people coming from behind me. In turn six I tried to out-break somebody and I just felt the bike go; it started shaking a lot and I lost all control of it. Unfortunately I clipped the other rider, which I’m sorry for, and then crashed out. This weekend has been very hard for us, which we didn’t expect. I’m sorry to my team for today! I hope to make amends in Le Mans.”
#71 AYUMU SASAKI – P15
“I struggled today with rear grip. We tried to find a solution to this after qualifying yesterday but it still wasn’t good in the race. In the first three laps with a new tyre, everybody was pushing very hard; the leaders set a strong pace but I couldn’t do the same and my lap times were not as fast. I slipped back into the second group and this is where I battled until the end. The small corners were the most difficult, so I had to try and make up for this in the high speed ones; it was a very tough race. From Argentina and Austin I think we have made a big step, which is good, but still not the best way to start the European rounds. I know this track well so I had expected to be in front more. I also know Le Mans well, so I will focus on this now and doing better there.”
