26/06/2022

Heartbreaking end to an incredible fight for the win by Schrötter, Alcoba scores on P14

It was a bittersweet ending for LIQUI MOLY Intact GP rider Marcel Schrötter after he buried a potential first Moto2 win in the gravel at 'De Strubben' while leading the race. Team-mate Alcoba, on the other hand, went into the longed-for summer break with two valuable World Championship points after finishing 14th in Assen.

Just one week after his P4 home success at the Sachsenring, the German Marcel Schrötter had the chance to land the big coup in the Netherlands. With another rocket start from P10, the 29-year-old shot into the first corner of the TT Circuit of Assen surrounded by thousands of fans in fifth place. A short time later Schrötter moved up to fourth place, taking up the chase of Alonso Lopez, Albert Arenas and Jake Dixon, whom he put under more and more pressure in the following laps and finally overtook until only Lopez was in front of him. The battle for the race lead was on in lap seven. 0.529s separated the Intact rider from P1, but the Bavarian was once again in top form and so he closed the gap in less than a lap so that he was able to snatch the lead from the Spaniard as early as lap eight.

From then on, the experienced Moto2 rider did strong leading work and kept seven nervous rivals at bay until lap twelve, when his phenomenal race came to an abrupt end at Turn 5. The disappointment about missing out on his first Moto2 win is enormous, but Schrötter has once again shown that he has the potential to be right up there at the front. He will take this with him into the summer break, after which he can approach the second half of the season with a lot of confidence.

Meanwhile, further back, a very eager young Spaniard was fighting for one last positive result before the summer break: Jeremy Alcoba. The Moto2 rookie started the 23-lap race from P23 and gradually made his way towards the points, which he finally achieved on the penultimate lap of the race. On the final metres, he even managed to improve on his P15, so he finished fourteenth, looking towards the British Grand Prix with two more World Championship points in his pocket. These two points are certainly a blessing for the 20-year-old's recently tarnished confidence.

Despite zero points, Marcel Schrötter is still seventh in the world championship before the five-week summer break, and Jeremy Alcoba is also feeling positive about the second half of the season, which officially kicks off at the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain from 5th to 7th of August 2022.

Results

Warm-Up
1. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'37.223
2. Joe ROBERTS/ USA/ KALEX – 1'37.405 (+0.182)
3. Albert ARENAS/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'37.722 (+0.499)
4. Manuel GONZALEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'37.758 (+0.535)
5. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX – 1'37.800 (+0.577)
17. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 1'38.174 (+0.951)
21. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'38.553 (+1.330)

Race
1. Augusto FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ KALEX
2. Ai Ogura/ JAP/ KALEX – (+0.660)
3. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX – (+0.725)
4. Celestino Vietti/ KALEX – (+0.758)
5. Bo BENDSNEYDER/ NED/ KALEX – (+1.485)
14. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – (+19.188)
DNF Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX

Championship
1. VIETTI Celestino / ITA / 146
3. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA / 146
2. OGURA Ai / JPN / 145
4. CANET Aron / SPA / 116
5. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA / 104
6. ROBERTS Joe / USA / 97
7. SCHRÖTTER Marcel / GER / 88
8. DIXON Jake/ GBR/ 76
9. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA / 75
10. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA / 69
19. ALCOBA Jeremy/ SPA/ 33

Team classification
1. RED BULL KTM AJO / 221
2. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA / 214
3. FLEXBOX HP40 / 178
4. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM / 155
5. MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM / 146
6. INDE GASGAS ASPAR TEAM / 121
7. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP / 121
8. ITALTRANS RACING TEAM / 107
9. MB CONVEYORS SPEED UP/ 79
10. PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / 61

Marcel Schrötter

DNF
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P7 - 88 Points

"Until the crash, it was really a top race and I honestly don't know if it was a real mistake, because it's one of those typical corners where you slip away quickly because you ride relatively slow with a lot of angle and you only have little pressure on the wheels. But of course it is a pity and bitter when nothing happens there the whole weekend and then you slip away in the race while leading. I felt extremely good in the first laps. Assen is not an easy track to lead because it is a high-speed track, but I felt strong and wanted to see what I could do at the front. But then I felt that the group was staying close together.

It's an extreme shame and I feel very sorry for the team, the sponsors, but of course also for myself and all the fans. The podium and even the victory are actually overdue, but we are close. We are doing a great job at the moment and that's what we have to take from here. Slips like this happen, unfortunately, but we have to take with us the positive note that we led the race. We will continue to work hard to get even further ahead in qualifying, for example. Even if you can be good from P10, the more you start at the front, the better you are and the easier it is. We have to continue after the summer break exactly where we left off here today. We still have nine races to go and we want to manage them in the same way. During the summer break, I will try to relax and then slowly start training again."

Jeremy Alcoba

P14 (+19.188)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P19 - 33 Points

"I have mixed feelings after the race because in between I did struggle again. Unfortunately, we don't have much time to test things, which is why whenever I go out on track, it's for a time attack. It's even harder when it rains. On Friday, we couldn't test the ideas we had from Sachsenring. Still, I am also slightly happy that in the last laps of the race, I was getting faster, even though it wasn't at the level of the top group. Maybe it would have been fast enough for the Top 10. The start of the race was tricky because I struggled too much and it was pretty much the same in Qualifying when I am on a new tyre. The feeling isn't ideal and everything feels hard and difficult to manage but when the tyre drops, things become more smooth and easy. I can manage a lot with the gas and my body position once that happens. I started to feel better. Now I am looking forward to a good summer break in order to relax and train. I want to be ready for the next races in August. Once the weather is good, we can try more things for the final stage of the season and next season."

Jürgen Lingg

Teammanager

"After this weekend, you just have to look at the positives for Marcel, because he performed consistently throughout the weekend, set good times and stepped up the ladder today in the race. He felt super comfortable on the bike and on days like this you have to try such attacks. Everything he did outside looked very safe, but then unfortunately he went a bit wide in the Strubben corner, was no longer on the racing line and then unfortunately his front folded in on him. Unfortunately, that happens, so we have to put it behind us and take on the positives. He has the pace to be at the front of the field, so he has to build on this top performance at Silverstone. I think at some point it will all come together for him and work out. It was a positive weekend despite everything.

Jeremy had a solid pace in the race, but was also faltering. It was a bit sluggish at the start, then he did very good times, even high 1:37s, which would have been enough for much further ahead, but then he slowed down again and went really strong again at the end. I hope he learned something from this race that he can take back to Silverstone and start at a higher level straightaway."

Pictures – Grand Prix of the Netherlands

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