No points in chaotic Moto2 race
A wrong tire choice cost Bo Bendsneyder a chance at points in the sprint race that the Emilia-Romagna GP turned out to be. Piotr Biesiekirski crashed on the penultimate lap of the Moto2 race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. NTS RW Racing GP therefore leaves Italy empty-handed after two races.
The Moto2 race was downright chaotic, after it started to rain in the fifth lap. In lap 7, the race was stopped. In the preparation for the ten-lap restart it got dry, but just as the riders were back on the grid, it started to rain again, causing another delay.
Bo Bendsneyder had a good start in the first race and was just building up rhythm to work his way up in the group that competed for points. For the second race, Bendsneyder switched to the softer rear tire, which turned out to be the wrong choice. He started in 22nd, but soon after a reasonable start he began to fall back a bit. The race was just too short to outsmart the relapsed Tetsuta Nagashima, but due to a penalty for Nagashima, Bendsneyder was listed 22nd in the standings after all.
Piotr Biesiekirski stood firm in the chaos. The only goal in his Grand Prix debut was to finish the race and gain experience. The latter worked, but unfortunately not the first goal. In round 9 of ten, the 18-year-old Pole crashed out.
“Being thrown to the lions like that, in a race where you have to start over three times, is not easy,” said NTS RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen. “Piotr has done a brave job. He has shown improvement every time out on track. It’s a shame he just couldn’t finish it, but he passed the baptism of fire well. In Barcelona he finds a track he knows well from the CEV. That will certainly make a difference.”
Bo Bendsneyder: “We knew the soft tire wouldn’t last a full 25 lap race, so we opted for the hard tire, which I felt good about. We had tried the hard tire in the warmup. It gives a little less grip, but a better feeling. I had a good first start and was able to stay with the group that was fighting for points. I was just building up rhythm to get more involved when it started to rain. For race 2 we made the mistake of opting for the softer tire. We had hoped to get a little more out of that over ten laps, but that turned out not to be the case. I had too much rear grip, which made steering out of corners difficult. It was a wrong choice and a lost cause. A great pity, because there would have been more in it. The focus is now on Barcelona, next weekend.”
Piotr Biesiekirski: “We’ve lacked just 5 kilometres today to be able to say that the weekend went to plan. Sunday was really intense, but we’ve made more progress, which makes both myself and the entire team really happy. I was able to improve my best time from the qualifying during the race and kept improving my pace with every lap, but I’ve made a small mistake while braking for turn 14 on the penultimate lap. In the end I wasn’t able to finish my first ever Moto2 World Championship race, but it’s a part of the learning curve as well. I’d like to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to make my Grand Prix debut and I apologise for today’s small mistake. I’m sure though that we’ll be able to make another step during the next round in Barcelona.”