Top-ten finish for Vierge in tough Spanish GP

2020-07-28 08:45
It was a challenging return to racing for PETRONAS Sprint Racing in the Moto2 championship, where tyre life played a crucial role in what became a race of attrition. Xavi Vierge rounded out the top-ten at the chequered flag, while team-mate Jake Dixon finished 18th after receiving a jump-start penalty.

With blisteringly hot conditions at the 4.4km Spanish circuit, Vierge’s race became one of tyre management for the Spaniard. Able to stay with the pack throughout the opening laps of the race, Xavi started to lose ground at the mid-point. Digging deep, Vierge was able to start fighting for positions again, after saving some tyre life for the closing stages. Battling hard into the final corner, his Triumph-powered Kalex machine came into contact with another Moto2 bike, which forced him wide and dropped him two places to finish tenth.

Team-mate Dixon managed to make a great race start, but it was unfortunately deemed to be a jump start and he was forced to take two long laps as punishment. This left the Brit with a lot of work to do to progress into the points. Struggling with intense heat, it was hard going for Jake to make his way through the pack. A valiant effort saw him make up some places in the closing laps to cross the line 18th.

There will be no rest for the PETRONAS Sprinta Racing team with the next Moto2 race, also at Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto, taking place next weekend (24-26 July).






Johan Stigefelt
Team Director





We knew the Moto2 race would be difficult because we didn’t have a great pace in the free practice sessions. I was surprised with Xavi as he was hanging in there and working very hard, which I appreciate a lot. I could see that he had been struggling with the bike this weekend, but he did a great job. We need to really work on the set-up for next weekend and see if we can help him to improve his feeling and get him up to speed. Hopefully we can manage that and then I know he will be at the sharp end; that’s where he belongs. I’m happy with the top-ten result for him, but of course we want more.

It was a shame for Jake because he did a jump start and it was difficult for him after that. He had some good lap times in the race, which was good, and he didn’t give up. He was fighting hard and it has given us some good data for next week. We can take the positives from this race and move our focus onto the next weekend.

Source: SIC Racing Team

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