The Moto3™ class kicked off the track action of a busy Gran Premio de España on Friday morning, as the championship was making its first stop of the season in Jerez de la Frontera with Spanish fans eager to watch live motorcycle racing again! Rookie Jacob Roulstone finished second fastest of Practice behind an impressive David Alonso, and Daniel Holgado was not far behind, just outside the top 3 in 4th.
It is fair to say that it is a very good start to the Spanish Grand Prix for rookie Jacob Roulstone as the Australian boy managed to ride the second fastest time on Friday, behind David Alonso who was above all on the opening day in Jerez. In the morning's Free Practice, the number 12 started well as he took P9 with a 1’46.433, before he went on to improve in the afternoon’s practice to claim P2 with an excellent 1'44.679 after being provisionally at the top. However, Alonso’s pace was difficult to beat today as he rode almost one second faster than Jacob. The rookie will have a provisional Q2 place to defend on Saturday morning’s Practice 2.
Championship leader Daniel Holgado was quite happy about day one too, as the Spaniard progressively found his rhythm throughout the day. In the morning, his fastest in 1'46.615 placed him twelfth of the session, but he later on ended Practice 1 with a strong lap in 1'44.892 that put him just outside of the top 3, in P4. He will join forces with his teammate in tomorrow’s Practice 2 as he will also target a direct entry to Q2, as he hopes to qualify on the front row on home turf. The Moto3™ action will be back at 8:40 local time tomorrow!
The Moto3™ class provided motorcycle racing fans with another stunner on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Initially qualified in third on the grid, Daniel Holgado took off from second following the withdrawal of Jose Antonio Rueda, and teammate Jacob Roulstone moved up to fifth. Daniel Holgado secured another twenty points to leave Austin with a tiny lead on the championship, after he took the second position by just 0.013 seconds on rookie Angel Piqueras, while Jacob Roulstone claimed a brilliant P8 after a rather chaotic race!
Starting from second on the grid between David Alonso and Collin Veijer, Daniel Holgado took a rather decent start although a contact with Joel Kelso hurt his left ankle, but the Spaniard managed to defend his front row position after a chaotic first lap. After two laps, Dani found himself in third behind Alonso who had started to make the gap, and rookie Angel Piqueras who had made his way from the seventeenth position on the grid. While Alonso was already 3.4 seconds away, a chasing group with Holgado, Piqueras, Furusato, Veijer and Kelso were constantly overtaking each other after they had made the gap with the rest, but that allowed the race leader to grow even bigger his gap by 4.5 seconds with 9 laps to go. The next lap, Holgado had lost a bit of ground on Veijer and Yamanaka as he sat in P4, but the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider was not going to let go. He pressed charges on his rivals with six laps to go as he increased his pace, clocking slightly faster laps than the race leader. On lap 9, he rode a hot lap in 2'14.866, which turned out to be new fastest race lap record in the end, which gave him the opportunity to move up to a provisional third place, at the pursuit of Collin Veijer. However, a rather dangerous crash from the Dutch young man put Dani at risk when he had to avoid his bike crossing the track. Holgado lost a bit of ground and returned to P4 behind Alonso-Piqueras-Yamanaka. Fourth was not an option for the championship leader, as he put into action his final game plan with three laps to go. A T1 attack on Yamanaka saw him progress to P3, and next he took on Piqueras to find himself in P2. With the soft tyre having dropped massively, the last lap was about survival, but Holgado held it tight on rookie Piqueras and took second of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas by just 0.013 seconds. Daniel Holgado will head to Jerez with a two point-lead in the championship on today’s winner David Alonso.
It was a rather hectic race for Jacob Roulstone who was starting from P5, the best qualifying result of his young Moto3™ career. However, things went a bit crazy in the first turn when Filippo Farioli crashed just in front of him. Jacob was able to avoid it, but that was five positions lost already. But the events did not stop here! A few corners later, a crash between Ivan Ortola and Stefano Nepa required another quick reaction, and the Australian had to go wide to avoid them, and exited lap 1 in P15. Jacob remained focused while he had to complete his long lap penalty, and once that was out of the way, he started to move up progressively, lap after lap. With nine laps to go, he had made it to the top 10 behind Joel Esteban. The rookie was riding at a decent pace as he held his top 10, and a few crashes ahead saw him move up to eighth, a position he defended until the end to score eight points. P8 is the rookie’s best result since the start of the season, and he will be eager to head to Jerez to continue his brilliant start of the season. Next up for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team: the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez on April 26-27-28!
Position: 2nd
Championship: 1st
Points: 65
Position: 8th
Championship: 11th
Points: 19
Team Manager
Lap records were shattered today at the Circuit of the Americas as the Moto3™ class took on Austin for qualifying day. Early in the morning in P2, Daniel Holgado and Jacob Roulstone got their final chances to fight for Q2 spots, before the qualifying sessions in the afternoon. Championship leader Holgado claimed the last spot on the front row as he took P3 in qualifying behind David Alonso and Jose Antonio Rueda, while rookie Roulstone brilliantly sneaked into the second row in P6 all the way from Q1!
Provisionally qualified in Q2 after Friday, Moto3™ championship leader Daniel Holgado needed another strong lap time in this morning’s Practice 2 to ensure his ticket to the final qualifying stage. If Holgado was a bit shy most of the session, it was finally within the last seconds of P2 that he managed to find a space within the top 14, with a 2'14.583 placing him fourth in the combined practices, meaning Q2 target was achieved! The final qualifying session was highly competitive, but Dani held it tight to make it on the last spot of the front row for tomorrow’s race, with a lap in 2’14.487, just 0.195 seconds from today’s polesitter David Alonso. The Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider will head to the grid with a strong advantage that he will for sure aim to transform into big points for his championship.
On the other side of the garage, rookie Jacob Roulstone continued his progression on the Circuit of the Americas after an extremely positive first day that saw him take P7 yesterday. This morning, the young Australian rode faster than day 1 in 2'15.498, but it was a bit short to save his provisional Q2 spot, as he narrowly missed out on the top 14 by 0.420 seconds. The #12 had to go through the pre-qualifying stage at lunch time as he aimed to improve his grid position from his first two rounds in the lightweight class. Early into the session, Jacob set an even faster lap than his one from morning, which allowed him to sit provisionally within the top 4. When it was time to push a bit more, he did so and clocked a 2’15.428 to take P2 and join his teammate in Q2. Jacob did not stop there at all in what was his 3/3 Q2 in Moto3! The Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider continued to improve his lap times with a 2'14.869, which meant that he took P6, his best qualifying result in Moto3™ so far. Strong qualifying day for the Moto3™ squad in Austin, as both Holgado and Roulstone will start from third and sixth on the grid. Don't miss an exciting race tomorrow at 14:00 GMT -5.