Super sixth for Sasaki at Silverstone

2019-08-26 10:05
PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Moto3 rider Ayumu Sasaki has taken one of the best results of his Grand Prix career at the British Grand Prix, finishing in a strong sixth place just ahead of team-mate John McPhee in seventh at McPhee’s home race at Silverstone.

Looking consistently fast throughout the weekend and making a big step forwards in this morning’s warm-up session, Sasaki was able to deliver his second-best result of the season when the chequered flag dropped. Spending the entire race in the scrap for the podium, he’s keen to take the valuable lessons learned in today’s race forward into the remaining seven races of 2019.

McPhee ended the race with mixed emotions after a small mistake on the penultimate lap just cost him the chance to battle for victory at his home race. Taking a gamble with his tyre choice and going for the softer rear option, he out-braked himself slightly while defending his position and was left unable to close down the leaders again. Taking seventh, right behind his team-mate, he’s nonetheless leaving Silverstone happy with his performance and looking forward to the next round of the championship.

The next event of the 2019 Moto3 championship gets underway at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on September 13th, with race day at the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday September 15th.




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Result
John McPhee
7th (+1.045)

Result
Ayumu Sasaki
6th (+ 0.816)

“It was a good weekend for the whole Moto3 team and we were strong throughout. Both riders were in the group and fighting well, and if John hadn’t made a small mistake on the penultimate lap then he could have been in the fight for the top three. Ayumu took the opportunity to pass him and get closer to the front then too! Maybe we could have hoped for the end result to have been a little bit better given how close to the podium we were, but overall I’m very happy with both riders and the team.”

“It was a typical Moto3 battle. I did everything I needed to do in the early laps because I was on a soft rear tyre and most of the guys around me were on the hard, and I tried hard to manage it. In the final laps, some of them were able to break a lot harder than me and I was trying to be defensive and out-braked myself. It was totally my mistake and I just couldn’t get back into the leading group afterwards. The team have worked fantastically this weekend, the bike has been perfect, and it’s just a shame we didn’t get a better result in the end. It’s another race where we’ve been in the fight for the win though, and we’re learning every time we get on the bike.”


“We had a strong weekend, and we found something in warm-up that made us even stronger. The team did a great job from start to finish and I can’t say thanks enough. I wasn’t good enough to be on the podium but we made another step closer to it, and I’m happy to have been able to fight with the leaders. It has helped us identify more areas where we can improve, and the focus in the next races will be on fixing that. If we can do that, then we can be in the top three. We’re in a good shape and hopefully we can keep going forwards from here.”
Moto3 Race Results - British Grand Prix
POS. RIDER NUM TEAM TIME
1 Marcoz Ramirez 42 Leopard Racing 37'50.443
2 Tony Arbolino

Source: SIC Racing Team

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