Raffin and Bendsneyder take away points from Phillip Island
Four points are being packed in the suitcases of NTS RW Racing GP from Australia. Jesko Raffin took three points with thirteenth place in the Moto2 race on Phillip Island, Bo Bendsneyder grabbed one with fifteenth place.
It was a tough fight in good conditions (dry, less strong wind than on Saturday) on the iconic island in southern Australia. Jesko Raffin started the Moto2 race from seventh on the circuit where he achieved his best results so far. The Swiss managed to hold up well in the battle in the top 10, but in round 9 he had to let go of the group with the likes of Baldassarri, Nagashima, Lecuona, Schrotter and Bulega. He managed to hold on to the thirteenth place, to get over the line at 18.541 from winner Brad Binder.
Bo Bendsneyder lost a few positions at the start from position 19. He joined a group with, among others, Locatelli, Roberts, Fernandez and Bastianini, whom he angled in one by one. Once in the lead of the group, Bendsneyder made a small gap, but with only two laps to go the fourteenth place was out of reach. Bendsneyder crossed the finish line after 25 laps at 29.238 from Binder.
Bo Bendsneyder: “I am happy with a point in a hard-fought battle. At the start I lost some places, because I couldn’t catch up on the straight and had to follow a slightly different line in the turns than the others. Jesko was caught up on the straight, I couldn’t catch up there. So that is something we have to work on. Once I could overtake the others and had a free track ahead of me, I was able to get away and close the gap a bit. The team did a good job on a track that was difficult for me, riding here for the first time in Moto2. We hope that we can continue this line in Malaysia next weekend and also show good results there.”
Jesko Raffin: “I had a good start and I was able to fight well in the first few rounds, but after about eight rounds it became difficult. The engine then becomes lighter and that goes less well. I could not maintain the high rhythm of the others and had to take it a bit easier, because I was at the limit of the engine as it is now. It was a good race for NTS, and I am very happy with the three points, but we want more. The team worked perfectly and we can learn a lot from the data from this race to further improve the machine. ”