17/07/2023

Persistence rewarded with points

Jakob Rosenthaler again scored valuable points for the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team in Barcelona but had to grit his teeth to do so. Moto2 championship leader Senna Agius did not start after hand injury.

It was a turbulent weekend for the junior team of the Memmingen based motorcycle racing team at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya just outside the Catalan capital. As at the last races in Jerez and Portimao, human and material were once again put to the test by midsummer heat. In addition, the team suffered a bitter setback when Senna Agius suffered fractures to his left hand in a crash on Friday morning and had to retire from the weekend.

The 18-year-old talent from Australia now plans to use the long summer break in the JuniorGP Series to fully recover. During another examination this morning at the Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona, Agius was advised to undergo surgery, or he will be limited in his mobility. Most painful for Agius was that he could not use the two races on Sunday to secure the title win early.

For Jakob Rosenthaler and Leo Rammerstorfer in JuniorGP™ Moto3™ class, the weekend at the famous Grand Prix circuit in northeast of Spain resembled a rollercoaster ride. After a troublesome start, the two Upper Austrian riders gradually got better into their stride, but stumbled in qualifying on the one hand due to the high level of performance of the entire starting field and on the other hand over themselves. Rosenthaler narrowly missed out on Q2, while Rammerstorfer was unable to set any decent lap times.

The races on Sunday went very differently from the point of view of the two talents, as Rosenthaler was rudely knocked into the gravel trap by a competitor in the first race and therefore retired early, while Rammerstorfer was in a hopeless position due to penalties but finished the race in 20th place. In the second race, the competition was already over for Rammerstorfer on the first lap after a mistake. Rosenthaler, on the other hand, shone with bite and stamina and fought his way up to 13th place riding through the pain barrier from the crash before.

In European Talent Cup, Mohammed Abdalaziz Binladin and the team were satisfied with the weekend despite failing to qualify for the main race. Steady improvements right up to the «Last Chance Race» on Sunday morning increase the anticipation for the next race at the beginning of October at the Spanish circuit MotorLand Aragón.

#JuniorGP Barcelona - Moto3™ Qualiying Results:
1 Àngel PIQUERAS / SPA / ESTRELLA GALICIA 0,0 / HONDA / 1´49.387
2 Jacob ROULSTONE / AUS / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / GASGAS / 1´49.407 +0.020
3 David ALMANSA / SPA / FINETWORK MIR RACING TEAM / KTM / 1´49.476 +0.089
21 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´51.033 (Q1)
22 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´51.037 (Q1)

#JuniorGP Barcelona - Moto3™ Race 1 (15 Laps):
1 Xabier ZURUTUZA / SPA / MTA JUNIOR TEAM / KTM / 27´27.363
2 Jacob ROULSTONE / AUS / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / GASGAS / +0.135
3 Àngel PIQUERAS / SPA / ESTRELLA GALICIA 0,0 / HONDA +0.131
20 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +24.221
NC #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna

#JuniorGP Barcelona - Moto3™ Race 2 (15 Laps):
1 Fadillah ARBI ADITAMA / INA / ASTRA HONDA RACING TEAM / HONDA / 27´52.626 +0.005
2 David ALMANSA / SPA / FINETWORK MIR RACING TEAM / KTM / -
3 Joel ESTEBAN / SPA / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / GASGAS / +0.332
13 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +23.772
NC #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna

FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship:
1 Ángel PIQUERAS / SPA / Honda / 166
2 Joel ESTEBAN / / SPA / GASGAS / 96
2 Alvaro CARPE / SPA / Husqvarna / 95
14 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / Husqvarna / 42
24 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / Husqvarna / 4

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto2™ Combined Qualifying Results (QP1/QP2):
1 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / 1´44.013 (QP1)
2 Niccoló ANTONELLI / ITA / MMR / KALEX / 1´44.511 +0.498 (QP1)
3 Unai ORRADRE / SPA / STV LAGLISSE RACING / KALEX / 1´44.531 +0.518 (QP1)

#JuniorGP Barcelona - Moto2™ Race 1 (16 Laps):
1 Xavier CARDELUS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / 28´08.745
2 Unai ORRADRE / ESP / STV LAGLISSE RACING / KALEX / +0.065
3 Alberto SURRA / ITA / TEAM CIATTI-BOSCOSCURO / BOSCOSCURO / +1.156

#JuniorGP Barcelona - Moto2™ Race 2 (16 Laps):
1 Unai ORRADRE / ESP / STV LAGLISSE RACING / KALEX / 28´14.109
2 Alberto SURRA / ITA / TEAM CIATTI-BOSCOSCURO / BOSCOSCURO / +0.090
3 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / +0.350

FIM Moto2™ European Championship:
1 #81 Senna AGIUS / AUS / Husqvarna / 141
2 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / KALEX / 121
3 Alberto SURRA / ITA / KALEX / 98

#JuniorGP Barcelona - ETC Combined Qualifying Results Gr B (QP1/QP2):
1 Máximo QUILES / SPA / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / GASGAS / 1´50.330 (QP1)
2 Rico SALMELA / FIN / TEAM ESTRELLA GALICIA 0,0 / Honda / 1´50.419 +0.089 (QP1)
3 Jesús RIOS / SPA / MRE TALENT / Honda / 1´50.919 +0.589 (QP1)
24 #88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ / SAU / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / 1´55.264 +4.934 (QP1)

#JuniorGP Barcelona - ETC Last Chance Race (7 Laps):
1 Benat FERNÁNDEZ / SPA / FRANDO RACING VHC TEAM / Honda / 13´18.197
2 Kristan DANIEL / USA / MRE TALENT / Honda / +0.054
3 Pedro ALOMAR / SPA / IGAXTEAM / Honda / +0.075
19 #88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ / SAU / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / +16.000

#JuniorGP Barcelona - ETC Rennen (14 Laps):
1 Guido PINI / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / Honda / 26´19.107
2 Casey O’GORMAN / IRL / SUPERHUGO44 TEAM / Honda / +0.306
3 Ruché MOODLEY / RSA / FINETWORK MIR JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / +0.328

European Talent Cup:
1 Máximo QUILES / SPA / 124
2 Brian URIARTE / SPA / 123
3 Guido PINI / ITA / 115

#81 Senna AGIUS

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto2, KALEX)

"The weekend was character building to say at least. We started with very fast lap times on Thursday and were well on our way to repeating our performance from Portimao or earlier in the season. Unfortunately, a little carelessness on Friday afternoon caused effects that put me out of action for the rest of the weekend. This robbed us of the chance to take the title on Sunday or to decide the championship early for the team. That is a great pity. But we have a long summer break ahead of us to recover. Hopefully surgery will not be necessary so that I can start training again in a month or so and then go to Aragon in best possible shape."

#78 Jakob ROSENTHALER

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto3, Husqvarna)
Grid position 16 / Race 1: NC / Grid position 21 / Race 2: P13

"I only knew the track in Barcelona from last year's races. So, it was not an easy start on the first day. But already on Friday, the expected improvement came. Looking at the timesheet made me feel positive. Unfortunately, it was not enough for Q2 on Saturday. First, I narrowly failed in the timed practice and then also in Q1. The gaps were very close, one or two tenths faster and it would have been enough for a starting position in the top three rows. But for the first race, 21st became P16 on the grid because there were a lot of penalties again. My start into the first race was really strong, I was able to position myself well in the group right away. But on the third lap I was hit by another rider at the end of the start-finish straight. It was pretty heavy."

"I am still a bit pissed off because I know I could have been up the front in the race. The people I was fighting until the crash were also in the front positions at the end. However, I had a lot of pain in my left hand after the crash, so I was not sure if I would be able to ride again in the afternoon. But in the starting grid we bandaged the little finger and the ring finger with tape. After that I was able to ride at a more or less good level. I actually only used my thumb and index finger, which was not easy to control the bike sometimes. Especially in the left turns, my lines were very precarious. So, I had to compensate everything on the right side. The last part of the track with the three right handers suited me very well. I was able to overtake a few riders up to the finish line. The fact that I was even able to finish in the points at the end makes me particularly happy."

#50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto3, Husqvarna)
Grid position 28 / Race 1: P20 / Grid position 22 / Race 2: NC

"To sum up, Barcelona was a very difficult weekend for me. It started with two pretty serious crashes. Nevertheless, I was able to cope with them reasonably well until Friday. My pace was good, and I was able to improve in every session. In the free practice sessions, I was regularly among the top twenty. In this way I was able to keep this level on Saturday morning, my gap was less than a second. Unfortunately, qualifying went completely wrong as I could not set a decent lap time."

"That is why I had to start both races from very far back. In the first race it was particularly bad because I had to start from the very last spot on the grid and also had two long laps. That was anything but ideal because there was no way I could catch up. In the end I finished in P20, and I do not want to say anything about that. The second race was unfortunately already over in the first lap because of an unfortunate crash. Too bad because my feeling was good right away. The outcome of the weekend is hard to swallow for me. Now I have to see that I check it off in the summer break and come back perfectly prepared in Aragon."

#88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ BINLADIN

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (ETC)
Grid position 14 / Last-Chance-Race: P19

"My weekend was good, even if it does not look that way on paper. At the beginning my gap to the top was still very big, but during free practice sessions I was able to reduce it continuously and in the first qualifying I was doing really well. The only negative point was that in the second qualifying I could not improve on my time from the first. That was not very nice. In the race this morning I got a good start that moved me up three or four positions. But on the second lap I had a contact with another rider in the first corners. That cost me a lot of time. Still, I am happy with my performance in «Last Chance» because I set my fastest lap time this weekend. I can build on that, and I am already looking forward to the next race in ETC, even if I have to wait until the beginning of October."

JuniorGP Barcelona

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