One side of the RW Racing GP garage was happy after the Moto3 race of the French GP. The other side was a bit disappointed. Jakub Kornfeil was obviously the happy one after finishing 6th and picking up 10 points for the world championship. Jasper Iwema was the disappointed one after finishing 21st and leaving Le Mans without points. But knowing where they came from, both riders knew they got the maximum out of it.
Jakub Kornfeil got of the starting grid like a rocket. The Czech was able to stick to the strategy he made up together with team manager Jarno Janssen: take the outside line in the first corner to be in the perfect position for the inside line in the first chicane. Coming through the chicane proved to be crucial. Kornfeil moved up from 14th to 10th, passed another one and ended the first lap in 9th position.
In lap 5 he was already in 6th position and closing in on Alex Marquez in 5th. Unfortunately the leading group with Folger, Rins, Viñales and Salom was already too far away to fight for the podium. Kornfeil could hold on his position and decided to back off in the final part of the race to save his tires and 10 valuable world championship points.
Having to start the Moto3 race from 30th position on the grid it didn’t seem to be the weekend of Jasper Iwema. Expectations were high after Iwema finished 7th in Le Mans last year and 14th in Jerez two weeks ago. But Iwema couldn’t find his rhythm on Friday, lost confidence and struggled all weekend as a consequence of that.
Finishing the race in 21st was the best he could do. After a good start (from 30 to 22nd) Iwema tried to hold on to a big group fighting for the last few championship points but he got into trouble after touching wet spots on the track several times. The race was declared dry, but the track wasn’t dry. There was only a narrow dry line and in the big group Iwema was in, it was impossible to stay on the dry line. Nevertheless Iwema managed to stay on the bike where others crashed off and make the most out of a bad weekend.
Jakub Kornfeil (6):
"My Kalex KTM was at 100 percent and I could keep on pushing right from the start. I am really happy with the bike. I was able to choose the outside line in the first corner and get through the chicane on the inside, making it impossible for others to overtake me there. It worked out very well and I could close in on Marquez. But just when I thought I could pass him, I made a small mistake. That cost me the connection to Marquez. Fighting my way to Marquez had cost me the best of the tires and it got pretty slippery, so I decided to settle for 6th and not take any more risks. I think finishing 6th after starting from 14th is the maximum I could do. I am very happy with these 10 points."
Jasper Iwema (21):
"It wasn’t my weekend but let’s not make a drama from one bad weekend. There were no big problems with the bikes, it was just me. I have been abreast of things from the beginning and never caught up. When you don’t have maximum confidence, it is impossible to push to the limit. Having to start from 30th was the biggest disappointment. That is not where I should be. I knew it was going to be a difficult race, no matter what the weather would do. The start was not bad: I gained many positions in the first part of the first lap. But the dry line was narrow and I got off track twice halfway of the race, giving others the opportunity to overtake. In the end 21st after starting from the back of the grid isn’t too bad, but it is far from what the team and myself had expected and therefore I’m really disappointed. Better to forget about this weekend quickly and move on to Mugello."
RW Racing Press Release
