16/10/2022

Jeremy Alcoba delivers an amazing race with P6 in Australia

LIQUI MOLY Intact GP rider Jeremy Alcoba delivered a sensational performance on the 18th race Sunday of the season after he took a brilliant sixth place starting from P9, his best grid position in 2022. Marcel Schrötter, on the other hand, fought his way to 13th place in the Australian Grand Prix.

On the morning of the Australian Grand Prix, the typical weather capers on the island outside Melbourne lived up to their reputation. In the warm-up, the track was still half-damp from a morning rain, so the two riders from the German LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team were merely testing their race set-ups and therefore did not add any lap time to the timing sheets.

When the lights went out for the 25-lap race on the then-sunny Phillip Island Circuit, Jeremy Alcoba showed with what aim he had gone into the race: the top 5. The young Spaniard had a solid start, quickly made up more positions, and found himself in eighth place within just a few laps.
On lap nine, he made a mistake while trying to overtake Aron Canet, which cost him dearly. But the 20-year-old didn't hesitate for a second and played out the potential of his strong-running Kalex right to the end. The youngster delivered an excellent chase and even fought for the top 4 at the end because his lap times were in no way inferior to those at the top. Even though an even better result might have been possible without the mishap, the Moto2 rookie is happy about the sixth place, which he already achieved for the third time this season.

However, teammate Marcel Schrötter seemed less happy after the Grand Prix on the legendary 4.4 km Australian circuit, which is one of his favourites. Initially starting the weekend with good progress, things still went well for the German in Qualifying 1, even though he just missed Q2 slightly. But even if the 20th starting position was not an easy lot and the disappointment about the race may be getting the better of the 29-year-old for the time being, the 13th place and three more world championship points is not a finish because of which one has to bury one's head in the sand. Therefore Schrötter will now analyse all the data together with his crew in order to be competitive again at the Malaysia Grand Prix in just one weeks time.

Results

Warm-Up
1. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'36.848
2. Aron CANET SPA/ KALEX – 1'38.886 (+ 2.038)
3. Pedro ACOSTA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'41.731 (+4.883)
4. Niccolò ANTONELLI/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'43.391 (+6.543)
5. Bo BENDSNEYDER/ NED/ KALEX – 1'44.216 (+ 7.368)
NC Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX
NC Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX

Race
1. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO
2. Pedro ACOSTA/ SPA/ KALEX – (+3.556)
3. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX - (+9.583)
4. Fermín ALDEGUER/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+15.745)
5. Manuel GONZALEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – (+15.775)
6. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – (+15.892)
13. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX - (+47.584)

Championship
1. OGURA Ai / JPN / 242
2. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA / 238,5
3. CANET Aron / SPA / 192
4. VIETTI Celestino / ITA / 165
5. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA / 152
6. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA / 150,5
7. DIXON Jake/ GBR/ 143,5
8. LOPEZ Alonso/ SPA/ 135,5
9. ROBERTS Joe / USA / 130
10. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA / 128
11. SCHRÖTTER Marcel / GER / 107,5
17. ALCOBA Jeremy/ SPA/ 57

Team classification
1. RED BULL KTM AJO / 390,5
2. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA / 370
3. FLEXBOX HP40 / 275
4. INDE GASGAS ASPAR TEAM / 219,5
5. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM / 205,5
6. BETA TOOLS SPEED UP/ 203,5
7. MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM / 165
8. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP / 164,5
9. ITALTRANS RACING TEAM / 145
10.PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / 88,5

Marcel Schrötter

P13 - (+47.584)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P11 - 107,5 Points

"From a purely emotional point of view, I would say that this was my worst race this season. I was simply much too slow and that's of course depressing. Unfortunately, I also shifted gears wrong once, which caused me to lose a lot of time in first gear. Then there was a braking mishap, but already at the beginning, I couldn't follow Sam Lowes, for example, although he didn't have a particularly strong pace. Unfortunately, I still don't have the right words after this race. I thought we made really good steps this weekend, but unfortunately, it didn't go well for us in the race. We still have two races left this season and I really hope that we can turn the tables and at least end the season on a more positive note."

Jeremy Alcoba

P6 - (+15.892)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P17 - 57 Points

"The race was a bit strange because for the first time this weekend, the wind changed direction but my goal was to push hard either way. There were some fast guys behind me, so I wanted to get an advantage in the first corner. Sadly there was a small collision in the second corner and I had to take a lot of risks but then I tried to stay calm. The leading trio had a much stronger pace so they pushed hard but I tried to keep touch and fight for P4. In the feud with Jake Dixon we lost the connection a bit but we fought back. I told myself to study him but there were a lot of overtakings and at some point, I nearly lost the front in turn 2 while on the brakes trying to defend myself against Aron Canet. I went off-track and lost all my options to fight for the top 5. I remained calm and kept following the group in front of me and even managed to recover over 2,5 seconds which made me really happy as my pace was pretty amazing. All the work we as a team did this weekend was great. It felt awesome to fight for the top 4 in the last lap but I made a mistake and I couldn't overtake again. With the wind on this track it was clearly not easy. I finished in the top 6 which is fine but of course, I wanted the top 4. We had the potential in this race but I am happy about the great work and let's hope we can continue in the last two races of the season. "

Jürgen Lingg

Teammanager

"Jeremy put in another strong performance, as he did in Thailand, only this time we were able to bring it home and I'm really happy for him and the whole team. The weekend started well for him. He then secured the third row of the grid on Saturday and fought his way back to the front well after a hectic start. Unfortunately, his front almost collapsed once, which cost him a lot of time, otherwise, it could have even gone in the direction of a podium for him today. Today's performance was really impressive, especially when you consider that he has never ridden here at Phillip Island before. Big compliments to everyone, but especially to Jeremy.

Marcel is unfortunately struggling a lot at the moment. He is not relaxed and then it is all the more difficult. We tried a few things on the bike, but it didn't make much difference in the end. Nevertheless, it is positive that he was able to secure three points! We will now analyse his race and move on in the hope that we will be in a better position for the last two races."

Pictures – Grand Prix of Australia

Back