Three wins in a row extend Álvaro Carpe’s Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup points lead to 33 as the Spanish 17-year-old continues his late-season charge.
Argentine 16-year-old Valentin Perrone almost passed him on the line, missing out by just 0.026 seconds after a thrilling battle on their KTMs. Third was Spain’s Brian Uriarte, just another 0.052 behind.
Uriarte is still second in the points table and crucially Perrone moves up to third in the title chase after Màximo Quiles scored zero points because of two falls.
The race was run in two parts following a Red Flag due to a fallen rider on the track though he was later found to be uninjured. The initial race was stopped after 4 laps, Part 2 ran for 5 laps and determined the overall result.
Carpe will not stop winning
“I feel that I managed the race very well, I led almost all the time, running a fast pace. It was fast enough so the three of us broke away from the rest. I looked back and saw it was just three of us and Rico was some distance behind us.”
“I knew that I had a very good plan and line for the back straight and the final corner so I was happy to lead on the last lap.”
“I am very happy that I have had this run of three wins. That means that tomorrow is my first possible match point. I have to stay calm and give 100%. I am not going to play just for points, I want to win because that is what I enjoy.”
Perrone hoped for a mistake
“In the beginning of the first part, I started just trying to be calm, running a bit slow. So I wouldn’t use all the tyre and like this, I would have something left for the end. So the Red Flag was perfect for this it shortened the race and I did have some tyre left at the end.”
“In the last lap the grip was not so bad in the last corner Carpe was super fast. My only chance was to stay behind him and hope he made a mistake so I could pass him out of the slipstream but he did it perfectly, my bike was moving around through the last corner and he made no mistake.”
Uriarte tried everything
“Well, it was tough but I managed to get the podium. I was pushing at the beginning so I was feeling confident and the tyre was giving me a lot of confidence. I was having a nice balance between the bike and me. The Red Flag didn’t help me because I was running my pace and after the stop, the tyre was destroyed, after the sighting lap I could feel it was finished.”
“Lucky, I was able to go with Alvaro and Valentin and get away from the others. I was struggling so much through the fast corners and I struggled to stay with the first two. The other two had managed to save the tyres a bit and I couldn’t catch them, it was close but no way to finish in front.”
Quiles slips to 4th in title chase
“I’m a bit angry but, well this is racing,” stated the emotional 16-year-old Spaniard after the race. He fell due to an incident with Hakim Danish and the Malaysian 17-year-old was given a ‘double long lap penalty due to irresponsible riding’.
“A bit disappointed because now it is a bit difficult to do top three but it’s possible so I will try my best tomorrow and see what happens,” he added after falling again on his own at the end of the race after restarting following the first incident.
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