The Moto3 Indianapolis Grand Prix was missing three of the riders who had started the weekend on track. Faubel, Webb and Miller were ruled out of raceday action through crashes, and ten further riders were taken out of the race over the course of the 23 laps. Just twenty riders crossed the finish line. Kent pushed hard early on and the leaders in the first half included he, Salom, Khairuddin and Rins, but nobody was able to really assert their authority on the Moto3 class contest. On occasions they broke into the 1.48 mark, but mid-1’49s were more typical lap times. el ritmo de la prueba era de 1.49 medios, bastante más lento que los entrenamientos. Viñales broke free, Cortese and Salom managed to chase him down, and the victor would be decided on the final lap. A crash for Viñales ended his chances, and Salom held off Cortese on the line. Jonas Folger thus moved up into third.
Up from fifteenth place on the grid to ninth in the space of one lap –that was Jonas Folger’s early case for success in his first race with the MAPFRE Aspar team. The German rider put in an excellent showing as he joined up with the lead group, keeping his patience in a tough contest. He lost touch a few times on the brakes, but was finally able to break free and was rewarded with a slice of good fortune. When Viñales crashed on the final lap, Folger moved up into third place. The MAPFRE Aspar Team debutant thus took the team’s second podium of 2012.
Teammate Héctor Faubel was discharged from hospital this morning. Despite pain in his abdomen, lumbar and left elbow, the Spaniard will attempt to recover in time for the Czech Republic GP.
3rd Jonas Folger: “I feel very happy about this podium. The season had been difficult up to now and I have got a good result finally after joining a great team. I love being able to show that I can be competitive with a good bike and a good team. I want to thank them for this magnificent opportunity. On the opening laps I had to gain positions from fifteenth. I then reached the lead group and had to fight hard to keep with them. I pushed a lot and made a few mistakes on my braking points. In any case, I carried on with the strong pace from before, in order to get as far up the order as possible. I was also thinking about preserving the tyres, because I knew that at the end of the race the asphalt would be very slippery. I was part of the chasing pack and saw that I could leave them behind after a few laps, because I had better drive through the corners. On the penultimate lap I overtook those who were ahead of me and pushed hard on the final lap to keep third place.”
Mapfre Aspar Moto3 Press Release
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