23/10/2022

Top 10 success in Malaysia: Schrötter and Alcoba in P6 and P9

The LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team leaves Malaysia with two top ten finishes after Marcel Schrötter fought off his rivals in a heated battle to secure sixth place, closely followed by his fast teammate Jeremy Alcoba in ninth.

After four races in Asia and Australia, the German racing team had a positive finish in Malaysia. The usually sometimes heavy rain showers, which are common in these latitudes and at this time of year, fortunately did not occur on race Sunday, even if a few individual drops caused brief doubts during the starting grid of Moto2.

But everything stayed dry and both Marcel Schrötter and Jeremy Alcoba got off to a good start from rows five and seven.

With his absolutely constant rhythm, Marcel Schrötter left some competitors behind and successfully fended off his closest pursuer Cameron Beaubier, so that he crossed the finish line in sixth place after 18 gruelling laps. His best result since P4 at the Sachsenring!

Jeremy Alcoba did similarly well in the hot and humid conditions, catching up to the group in front of him and setting his fastest race lap just metres from the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix to finish ninth ahead of Fermin Aldeguer. After his second top ten result in a row, the young Spaniard will be hoping to build on the good work in a fortnight' time, at his home race in Valencia from 4-6 November.

Results

Warm-Up
1. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 2'20.094
2. Pedro ACOSTA / SPA / KALEX - 2'20.115 (+0.021)
3. Fermín ALDEGUER / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 2'20.480 (+0.386)
4. Tony ARBOLINO / ITA / KALEX - 2'20.487 (+0.393)
5. Aron CANET / SPA / KALEX - 2'20.557 (+0.463)
14. Marcel SCHROTTER/ GER/ KALEX - 2'22.679 (+2.585)
22. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX - 2'24.638 (+4.544)

Race
1. Tony ARBOLINO / ITA / KALEX
2. Alonso LOPEZ / SPA / BOSCOSCURO
3. Jake DIXON / GBR / KALEX
4. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX
5. Manuel GONZALEZ / SPA / KALEX
6. Marcel SCHROTTER/ GER/ KALEX
9. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX

Championship 2022
1. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA – 251.5
2. OGURA Ai / JPN - 242
3. CANET Aron SPA - 200
4. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA - 175.5
5. VIETTI Celestino / ITA - 165
6. DIXON Jake / GBR - 159.5
7. LOPEZ Alonso / SPA - 155.5
8. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA - 152
9. ROBERTS Joe / USA - 130
10. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA - 128
11. SCHROTTER Marcel / GER - 117.5
18. ALCOBA Jeremy / SPA - 64

Team classification 2022
1. RED BULL KTM AJO - 403.5
2. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA - 370
3. FLEXBOX HP40 - 283
4. INDE GASGAS ASPAR TEAM - 238.5
5. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM - 230.5
6. BETA TOOLS SPEED UP - 229.5
7. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP - 181.5

Marcel Schrötter

P6 - (+17.166)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P11 - 117,5 Points

"I think we can definitely be satisfied. We have had some more than difficult weekends, so this sixth place is certainly something to be proud of. Especially on this difficult and exhausting circuit. I am happy with my performance because I was very consistent from start to finish. Luckily it wasn't quite as hot today as it has been on the last few days, otherwise it would have been even more exhausting. Still, you always have to pace yourself a bit in this race. Apart from a few small things, I felt very comfortable on the bike. Especially in terms of grip, the feeling was really good. But when you come from further back, it's always a bit hectic at the beginning. Especially in the first few corners you have to be careful as hell."

"But I think I did my job quite well from the beginning, even if the train to the front quickly left. It opened up a gap to Fernandez that I couldn't close. But I could have kept up with the group in terms of pace. On the other hand, I was able to assert myself in my group and then tried to do my thing and avoid mistakes as much as possible. Apart from a minimal mistake, I succeeded well. Even though I was a few tenths behind the front runners, it was a nice end to an overall positive weekend. The practice sessions went well, the race was good and we can take that and approach Valencia the same way again."

Jeremy Alcoba

P9 - (+24.407)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P18 - 64 Points

"From my point of view it was not my best race. But we achieved a top 10 finish again. I'm happy about that, but also not 100% happy with the feeling, because I was struggling a lot. I feel like I couldn't improve any further. It was hard to understand why I couldn't go much faster. I wanted to, but after a few laps I felt I had reached the limit of my pace. If I tried to push harder, it was too risky to crash and I wanted to avoid that. I am happy with the work everyone did. We return home with a top 6 and a top 9 result from the last two races. We take a good feeling into the last race in a fortnight and into next season. But we still have to improve."

Jürgen Lingg

Team Manager

"Our qualifying sessions were not the best, but from the grid positions they achieved, Marcel and Jeremy showed a great race. Having both riders within the top ten is always good. Both of them fought really well. Marcel beat down his opponents, and then they gave up at some point. A strong performance from him. We really have to be satisfied with that. Jeremy was able to get another single-digit result, which is very good for a rookie in his first season. He set the fastest lap time on his last lap, which shows what potential he still had. We hope that we can build on this in Valencia, then it would be a successful end to the season. A big thank you to the whole team, they did a great job. Because it is very exhausting in the climate here. Everyone deserves a week off now!"

Pictures – Malaysian Grand Prix

Back