13/05/2022

Schrötter keeps calm as he finishes sixth on the opening day at Le Mans

LIQUI MOLY Intact GP rider Marcel Schrötter finished the first day in sunny conditions in a promising sixth place despite two slips, while teammate Jeremy Alcoba aims to make a significant step forward on qualifying day.

The French Grand Prix is one of the most unpredictable race weekends every year, and the 4.2km Bugatti Grand Prix Circuit is also living up to its reputation in 2022, because contrary to what is often said, sunny conditions prevailed on Friday for the first free practice sessions of the SHARK Grand Prix de France - whether this will last the entire weekend remains to be seen.

However, it was a turbulent first day for the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team's German rider Marcel Schrötter. His pace was competitive from the start and that ultimately helped him achieve P5 in FP1 thanks to his 1'36.710, so even a slip towards the end of the session did not detract from the top result. In the second free practice, the 29-year-old even took over second place in the top speed ranking with 268.7km/h, but when testing his limits, the experienced Moto2 rider paid a second visit to the gravel at Le Mans. The two small mistakes will not unsettle him, because the feeling and the performance of his Kalex make the current world championship sixth extremely positive for the qualifying Saturday.

Jeremy Alcoba, meanwhile, continues to fine-tune his Moto2 bike, on which he has delivered many respectable performances since the start of his rookie season. His 28th place in FP1 and the slight rise to P27 in the day's combined standings mean nothing to the young Spaniard. However, the ambitious 20-year-old is certainly striving for more, so he will now put in a lot of work with his crew to be stronger and ready for battle in qualifying on Saturday afternoon.  It promises to be a close battle for the best grid positions at Le Mans, in which Marcel Schrötter and Jeremy Alcoba will be keen to get involved on tomorrow's Saturday.

FP1:
1. Somkiat CHANTRA / THA / KALEX - 1'36.108
2. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'36.263 (+0.155)
3. Stefano MANZI / ITA / KALEX - 1'36.608 (+0.500)
5. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'36.710 (+0.602)
28. Jeremy ALCOBA / SPA / KALEX - 1'38.357 (+2.249)

FP2:
1. Pedro ACOSTA / SPA / KALEX - 1'36.166
2. Somkiat CHANTRA / THA / KALEX - 1'36.328 (+0.162)
3. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'36.394 (+0.228)
6. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'36.589 (+0.423)
25. Jeremy ALCOBA / SPA / KALEX - 1'37.483 (+1.317)

Marcel Schrötter

P6 - 1'36.589 (+0.423)

"The two crashes were certainly not helpful. The one this morning was annoying because I went off the track and then kept on going with dirty tyres, whereupon my front wheel folded in the next right-hand corner. These are crashes that you don't necessarily need, but they happen. The second session was also good after the first one was actually quite good, considering how bad my tyre was. It was a bit tough and we had no real chance to get faster with the bike because I had virtually zero support from the rear. When I returned to the pits, we immediately saw what the problem was. I went out with new tyres and was able to set faster times. Unfortunately, I crashed again at the end and so far I don't know why. But I'm not going to think about it too much now and start doubting it, although, of course, we'll analyze it to see where I made the mistake, or whether I was unfocused for a moment and then braked too hard. Other than that I think we're still on a good path, we're doing well, we're fast and have to keep working hard and push, push, push, but without crashing."

Jeremy Alcoba

P27 - 1'37.483 (+1.375)  

"Every year I struggle a little bit at Le Mans but at the end of the day, it's always like this. Sunday is what matters and where we fight for the points. It's true that it wasn't easy for us today, although I felt better in the second free practice. Still, I continued to have some problems with the bike so we will have a few things to improve for tomorrow. I am sure that once we analyze everything, we can work and find a solution before the Qualifying. I think we will also compare our data with those of Marcel in order to understand certain things better. During today's session, I only rode two new tyres whereas the others used way more tyres than me. We saved them for tomorrow in order to have more chances to take a step forward before Qualifying starts. I hope to be able to improve further so let's see what Saturday has in store for us."

Pictures Le Mans GP

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