29/05/2022

Schrötter storms to P9 in the closing stages of the Mugello GP, Alcoba 17th

It was a long, gruelling 21 laps at the Gran Premio d'Italia, but Marcel Schrötter's final charge gave him and the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team more important world championship points, while fellow rookie Jeremy Alcoba just missed out on the points in P17.

After the warm-up on Sunday morning, on a track that was still partly wet after overnight rain, Marcel Schrötter then managed a solid start from 20th place at 12:20 local time, and even managing to make up two positions in the wild battle. In the next laps, the 29-year-old took up the chase, while a quintet tried to break away at the front. With consistency and full concentration, Schrötter prevailed against Bo Bendsneyder and, in a gripping final, also against Jorge Navarro. With P9, the only German Moto2 rider takes home another top 10 finish, seven points and moves up from eighth to seventh place in the World Championship standings.

Youngster Jeremy Alcoba, who was only competing in his second race on the 5.2km Tuscan circuit, was certainly sweating too. The Spaniard lost a few positions in the tight starting mess and finished in 24th place after the first laps. The way forward was not an easy one, but the biting rookie fought with full physical effort for every possible position until he finally crossed the finish line in seventeenth place. Even though the 20-year-old leaved Italy empty-handed this time, he gains experience with every race, every fight. Experience that he wants to use as a trump card against his opponents next week at his home Grand Prix, the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya at the gates of the world metropolis Barcelona.

With the lessons learned from this eighth race weekend in Italy, the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team now moves on to Spain, where the ninth battle of 2022 will be fought from 03 - 05 June.

Results

Warm-Up
1. Tony ARBOLINO/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'54.627
2. Aron CANET/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'56.116 (+1.489)
3. Sam LOWES/ GBR/ KALEX – 1'57.010 (+2.383)
4. Celestino VIETTI/ ITA/ KALEX – 1'57.593 (+2.966)
5. Marcos RAMIREZ/ SPA/ MV AUGUSTA – 1'57.693 (+3.066)
18. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 2'05.756 (+11.129)
20. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 2'06.469 (+11.842)

Race
1. Pedro ACOSTA/ SPA/ KALEX
2. Joe ROBERTS/ USA/ KALEX – (+4.051)
3. AI OGURA/ JAP/ KALEX – (+6.749)
4. Tony ARBOLINO/ ITA/ KALEX – (+12.312)
5. Augusto FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ KALEX – (+12.327)
6. Jake DIXON/ GBR/ KALEX – (+12.513)
7. Cameron BEAUBIER/ USA/ KALEX – (+12.849)
8. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+13.314)
9. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – (+14.703) 
10. Albert ARENAS/ SPA/ KALEX – (+14.748)
17. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – (+27.648)

Championship
1. VIETTI Celestino / ITA / 108
2. OGURA Ai / JPN / 108
3. CANET Aron / SPA / 89
4. ROBERTS Joe / USA / 86
5. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA / 83
6. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA / 80
7. SCHRÖTTER Marcel / GER / 64
8. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA / 61
9. NAVARRO Jorge / SPA / 56
10. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA / 45
16. ALCOBA Jeremy/ SPA/ 31

Team classification
1. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA / 169
2. FLEXBOX HP40 / 145
3. RED BULL KTM AJO / 125
4. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM / 118
5. MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM / 108
6. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP / 95
7. ITALTRANS RACING TEAM / 91
8. INDE GASGAS ASPAR TEAM / 77
9. PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / 47
10. AMERICAN RACING / 41

Marcel Schrötter

P9 (+14.703s)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P7 - 64 Points

"Due to the rain during the night, the feeling on the track was different today. I didn't feel very good and I wasn't able to ride aggressively or attack. Many small mistakes didn't make it any easier. It was the maximum for me today and I think we can be satisfied with ninth place, purely from the ranking. But coming from twentieth place, with the pace, the race itself and the gap, it's still not satisfying. We are working on having a bike that allows me to risk more. We had some good races, but now we have to take the next step. We will go through everything that has happened so far this season in the team, together with the crew chief, to understand what we can change on the bike. In Jerez, for example, in the high temperatures, I felt very strong, even though I don't usually like that and it tends to be critical conditions. Things like that are amazing in retrospect and it's just a matter of understanding that now. I hope that in Barcelona we will be able to do better in qualifying as well and it is also mentally demanding for me because the focus is always on that. So of course the pressure is also getting bigger. I'm doing my best, we're all working hard and I'd like nothing more than to get a grip on this, because then I'm sure we'll be able to pull off a lot more in the race. "

Jeremy Alcoba

P17 (+27.648s)
Moto2 World Championship 2022 - P16 - 31 Points

"I'm obviously not happy with today's result, especially because I don't understand what's been going on in the race. It was strange and I'd even say it was my worst race this season. It's not understandable because we improved over the weekend, with every session but in the race, I had a completely different feeling. My pace felt like I was riding in Mugello for the very first time, like in FP1. I had riders like Augusto Fernandez in front of me but unlike them, I couldn't make my way forward. Yesterday though, we rode nearly identical times. I could ask myself a million questions now on what happened but only analysing the data will hopefully give us answers. We'll reset our minds now and fight back next week."

Jürgen Lingg

Teammanager

"In qualifying, both riders only just missed out on Q2 and when you start from twentieth on the grid, it's difficult. Marcel's start was not ideal and it took him a while to find his rhythm. His times were acceptable, but at the moment there is still too much missing. We urgently need to improve if we want to move forward. I think ninth place reflects very well where we currently stand compared to the other competitors.
Jeremy is still a rookie, so it's normal that there are events where he has more difficulties than others. He rode on a new tyre compound for the first time at Le Mans and this weekend and that takes a little time to adapt to. He has to stay calm, stay focused and then he will get to where he wants to be. At the moment he has a difficult phase and he has to get through it. The potential is there, he has proven that more than once. If he continues to work so hard, he can make good steps forward."

Pictures – Grand Premio d'Italia

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