05/11/2022

Giving it their all one last time in Valencia

For the final race Sunday of the season, the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team's rider pairing of Jeremy Alcoba and Marcel Schrötter qualified on grid positions 18 on row 6 and P22 on row 8. Yet another challenge for the dedicated duo, who will be competing in this constellation for the very last time.

After a successful start on yesterday's Friday, rookie Jeremy Alcoba managed to improve further on Saturday morning and made it directly into Q2 with a strong twelfth place and a 1'35.260. The Spaniard had certainly hoped for more in the sunny afternoon. The 20-year-old secured P18 and will start his final home GP of the year from the sixth row of the grid on Sunday. From there, after working hard with his crew and with the support of his fans, he hopes to complete one last successful race for the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team.

For the only German rider in the Moto2 class, Marcel Schrötter, things took a step forward in FP3, but the 29-year-old narrowly missed out on making it directly into Q2, finishing sixteenth and just 0.083s short of P14. When the 25°C warm Q1 got underway for 15 minutes, he was well in the running for the top four positions at the beginning. But in the end, he lost the necessary tenths, especially in the last sector, so that four competitors were able to get in front of him. Tomorrow, Sunday, Schrötter will have one last dance in the Grand Prix World Championship. Despite all the sentimentality, he wants to give himself and his team an unforgettable farewell and hopes to leave the Moto2 stage with a solid points result.

Either way, the fans on-site and at home can expect a superlative showdown that should not be missed when the lights go out for the last time in the 2022 season at 12:20 (CET) and the world championship title is decided.

Results

FP3
1. Pedro ACOSTA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'34.592
2. Augusto FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'34.658 (+0.066)
3. Aron CANET/ SPA/ KALX – 1'34.664 (+0.072)
4. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'34.786 (+0.194)
5. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX – 1'34.953 (+0.361)
12. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'35.260 (+0.668)
16. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 1'35.360 (+0.768)

Q1
1. Celestino VIETTI/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'34.758
2. Tony ARBOLINO/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'34.782 (+0.024)
3. Manuel GONZALEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'34.946 (+0.188)
4. Joe ROBERTS/ USA/ KALEX – 1'34.956 (+0.198)
5. Senna AGIUS/ AUS/ KALEX – 1'35.076 (+0.318)
8. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 1'35.165 (+0.407)

Q2
1. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'34.314
2. Pedro ACOSTA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'34.315 (+0.001)
3. Augusto FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'34.481 (+0.167)
4. Tony ARBOLINO/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'34.583 (+0.269)
5. Ai OGURA/ JPN/ KALEX – 1'34.665 (+0.351)
18. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'35.258 (+0.9449)

Marcel Schrötter

P8 (Q1) - 1'35.165 (+0.407)

"It would have been really nice to have the chance to get a decent grid position in Q2 on this last race weekend. If you don't manage to get into Q2 the direct way, there is always the danger that you won't manage it from Q1 either. After all, there are always other fast riders in Q1, so it's never an easy task. An Arbolino, Vietti, or Roberts are top 6 riders, so the competition in Q1 is also very high. Nevertheless, I think I had a good qualifying, even if it wasn't enough in the end because I often lost time in the last sector. But I gave everything on every lap. It was the maximum I could get out of it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to ride my style on the bike so far and of course, I've tried to adapt, but it obviously doesn't seem to be enough. I'm always at the point where I'm riding like this to keep the bike under control as much as possible, and at that same time, you can't concentrate on finding those three or four-tenths. It's a pity because I feel that the potential is there for much more, but I can't go faster in the situation. Tomorrow is the last race and there I will give everything again in the hope that we will finish in the points. And who knows, maybe we'll make it towards the top 10, anything can happen and we've seen many times during the season that we're stronger in the races than in practice, so I'm confident. Valencia is a difficult track to overtake so I expect the first few laps to be quite chaotic coming from the back but the race is long. I will be fighting in each and every lap and I wish we can finish with a solid result and celebrate a great time together."

Jeremy Alcoba

P18 (Q2) - 1'35.258 (+0.9449)

"This morning we made a big step from yesterday. I felt really good and confident on the bike and I was pretty convinced that I would be able to make further progress in Qualifying but I struggled a lot, surprisingly. I tried to push hard but it made no difference. That was hard. I felt slow and disappointed that I couldn't do what the others seemed to be capable of. In some areas, I lost way too much time and we seriously need to take a lot at those sectors in order to find a solution for tomorrow. We're currently missing half a second, so let's see what we can do to fix this by Sunday race time. Still, I am happy with the pace, I just couldn't push for the necessary fast lap in Qualifying. Right now, I am disappointed but I do expect more from myself. I pushed but I was stuck so we'll analyze everything for tomorrow."

Pictures – Grand Prix of Valencia

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