Héctor Faubel and Alberto Moncayo close race weekend with fifteenth and nineteenth place, respectively, after difficulties in reaching the line
A top Moto3 race was predicted for the Moto3 Dutch TT, and the contest lived up to expectations. A group of up to 24 riders battled for the upper echelons of the standings, with overtaking galore to treat the fans at Assen. The top two in the standings stated their case for victory, as Cortese took the initiative early on and Viñales dominated the second half of the race. The field split into groups as the laps went by, and the leading pack consisted of Cortese, Kent, Viñales, Salom and Rossi. With five laps to go, each of the quintet was more than deserving of victory, which eventually went to Viñales. Cortese and Kent joined him on the podium after a video finish.
Héctor Faubel was expecting a tough race and was spot on with his analysis on Friday. The Saturday race saw the BANKIA Aspar starting from fourth on the grid, and he had a clear strategy set out from the beginning. He slotted into second place behind Cortese, expecting a push from the German. He lost engine performance six laps in, which effectively ended his challenge for the podium. Dropping down the order, he nonetheless made it to the finish and claimed fifteenth.
Teammate Alberto Moncayo also had trouble, especially due to his starting from eleventh. He was blocked in by riders early on when he made a bad start, and that lost him positions until a gearbox issue added to his woes. He eventually placed nineteenth.
15th Héctor Faubel: “I had an almost perfect start and slotted into second place. On the opening laps I felt very comfortable behind Cortese, because I thought that he was going to be the one to push to break away and leave Viñales behind. As the laps went by, my engine performance suddenly dropped drastically. I’m not sure, but maybe that was from pushing so hard at the start of the race. I tried to do what I could, but a lot of riders got past me. I feel disappointed, because both I and the team have been doing a great job this week and we deserved a good result. We will continue to work hard and try and turn our luck around.”
19th Alberto Moncayo: “The truth is that I don’t like that we are low down in the standings at another race. I didn’t have a good start, I got stuck in the middle of a multitude of riders and a lot of them got through on the straight. In the beginning that made me lose my focus, but later on I recovered. Just as that happened, my gearbox started skipping. We still don’t know why that was, but from the second lap onwards we were getting random shifts up and down. At least I can be satisfied with the great job that we did this week, and with the fact that every day we had a clearer idea about the direction to go with the chassis. We have to continue working to get everything in order, and I’m sure that soon the results will come.”
Aspar Bankia Press Release
