25/09/2022

Schrötter happy with progress & P13 in Japan, Alcoba crashes

In a race that offered bright sunshine, LIQUI MOLY Intact GP rider Marcel Schrötter finished in the points again with P13, while unlucky Jeremy Alcoba crashed on the last lap after a strong recovery and lying in 16th place.

Sunday morning's warm-up was the first completely dry session of the weekend, so it was little surprise that Marcel Schrötter had more feeling for the rear of his Kalex again and underlined this with 13th place in the ten-minute warm-up before the 16th race of the season.
With a cool-headed start, the German went into the 22-lap race at Motegi. He gave himself time to find his position in the race as well as his rhythm before making targeted attacks to close in on the points. But after the first lap, the 29-year-old was already able to report three position gains and continued to build on them as the race progressed. With 13th place, Schrötter collected three World Championship points, to which he would like to add more in a week's time in Thailand.

Jeremy Alcoba will want to do this even more after he crashed in the second consecutive race. But today, unlike in Aragon, the World Championship points were already within the Spaniard's grasp when he landed in the Japanese gravel at the start of the last lap in turn 1. The 20-year-old had started the race from 29th on the grid and crossed the line in 20th position after only the first lap and was up to P15 a little later. Unfortunately, a technical problem crept in on his Kalex towards the middle of the race, which ultimately led to a crash a few metres before the finish line. The disappointment is great, but the Moto2 rookie shows with every race weekend how strong his starts are and with what perseverance he can fight his way through the field in short amounts of time.

In just one week's time, there will be a chance for revenge, as the Chang International Circuit in Thailand is the next venue on the 2022 MotoGP calendar.

Results

Warm-Up
1. Aron CANET/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'51.100
2. Albert ARENAS/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'51.455 (+0.355)
3. Fermín ALDEGUER/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'51.490 (+0.390)
4. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'51.526 (+0.426)
5. Bo BENDSNEYDER/ NED/ KALEX – 1'51.533 (+0.433)
13. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 1'51.869 (+0.769)
22. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'52.712 (+1.612)

Race
1. Ai OGURA/ JAP/ KALEX
2. Augusto FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – (+1.192)
3. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+7.168)
4. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX – (+7.597)
5. Somkiat CHANTRA/ THA/ KALEX – (+12.255)
13. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – (+24.171)
DNF Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX

Championship
1. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA / 234
2. OGURA Ai / JPN / 232
3. CANET Aron / SPA / 177
4. VIETTI Celestino / ITA / 162
5. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA / 138
6. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA / 132
7. ROBERTS Joe / USA / 126
8. DIXON Jake/ GBR/ 121
9. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA / 120
10. LOPEZ Alonso/ SPA/ 105
11. SCHRÖTTER Marcel / GER / 104
18. ALCOBA Jeremy/ SPA/ 47

Team classification
1. RED BULL KTM AJO / 366
2. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA / 352
3. FLEXBOX HP40 / 260
4. SHIMOKO GASGAS ASPAR TEAM / 194
5. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM / 189
6. MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM / 162
7. BETA TOOLS SPEED UP/ 160
8. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP / 151
9. ITALTRANS RACING TEAM / 141
10.PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / 80

Marcel Schrötter

P13 - (+24.171)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P11 - 104 Points

"We had a good Sunday today, even if P13 is not what we want. We have to see and appreciate the small steps though. We took a step in the warm-up and just put all the theories aside and rebuilt the bike like it was at the beginning of the year. My biggest obstacle is braking and today was the first day in a long time that I was able to brake in a way that felt good to me. However, we still lack a bit of speed, but progress was noticeable. I felt more comfortable on the bike and was closer to the top 10 again. In the race, the tyres suddenly degraded rapidly, which made me lose the connection a bit. I then tried to adapt and also got faster again. Apart from placing, it was important to finish the race to boost our confidence. We are working our way out of this low and hopefully we can make the best use of the time we have left because the fun comes with success and so we need to take the small gains back to Thailand next week. I thank the team who continue to believe in me, who always have my back, and who don't give up. There has been a lot of disappointment lately, but I want to get back to great results in the next races. At least I feel like I'm the Marcel from the beginning of the year again."

Jeremy Alcoba

DNF
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P18 - 47 Points

"We started the weekend very well and with a good setup but the rain on Saturday changed everything. I crashed twice which forced me to start from the last position, but mentally nothing changed. We tried to achieve the best position possible. I think we did the best race in terms of recovering from far behind and I think I learned a lot for the future and gained important experience. The start of the race went really well and so I ended up in a strong group with P7 in sight. For some reason, after about six or seven laps, the brakes went down and it felt like I doth have any braking power which is why I tried to fix it with adjustments. I wanted to finish the race in respect of the team and maybe still grab some points. In the last lap, I tried to take it easy but when I arrived at the first corner, I didn't have brakes and ended up in the gravel. Still, I'm trying to look at the positives which is the good setup we had, which will hopefully help us in the next races too."

Jürgen Lingg

Teammanager

"We have to be lenient with the assessment of Marcel's race, because contrary to what the result might suggest, his lap times were really good in the last third of the race, which in principle would have been enough for positions further ahead. The positive thing is also that the top 10 are within reach again. This should also be our goal for the next race, but even so, the development is positive compared to the practice results, especially in yesterday's conditions. The whole weekend was influenced by a lot of external factors, which is why it was a difficult weekend. Marcel also visibly had more fun riding again and that is not only a positive sign but also enormously important.
For Jeremy, of course, it was not easy to get to know this track under these circumstances. Fortunately, he got through the weekend's crashes unscathed, but in the end, it cost him a lot of track time. I think he would have been able to get a better position in qualifying otherwise. But as usual, he got off to a great start in the race and quickly moved up towards the points. He did a great job, but unfortunately, he had a technical problem. Of course, we will now take a close look at that, but sadly, he crashed as a result. Maybe it would have been better if he had pitted in rather than risking a possible crash injury, with so many consecutive races coming up in the next few weeks."

Pictures – Grand Prix of Japan

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