Schrötter & Alcoba demonstrate fighting spirit with fabulous catch-up race in Jerez

Once again, LIQUI MOLY Intact GP riders Marcel Schrötter and Jeremy Alcoba showed that they have the potential to be at the front of the field after greatly improving their grid positions in the Spanish GP with P5 and P12 finishes.

What the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP duo delivered in the race at the Gran Premio de España could now have convinced even the biggest doubters. The focus now is all the more on improving performance in qualifying, because after several fastest race laps by Marcel Schrötter, it's hard to imagine what would have been possible if he and Alcoba had been able to start the race from further up the grid. 

With P3 in the 10-minute warm-up session on Sunday morning, Marcel Schrötter already gave a first foretaste of what could be possible in the race thanks to his consistently strong pace - even from 18th position on the grid. The German got off the line well and kept a cool head even in the tightest scrum of the first chicanes on the Circuito de Jerez. After only a few laps, the 29-year-old was already in twelfth, but that was not enough. Instead, the experienced Moto2 rider set the fastest race laps again and again, and so he successively moved further to the front until he finally ended up in position six, also due to crashes of for example Jake Dixon and Fermin Aldeguer. In his sights: World Championship leader Celestino Vietti. Schrötter studied the Italian until he made his first attack with just under seven laps remaining. But of course the World Championship leader did not give in that easily, but Schrötter put all in, pushed past in a steamy manoeuvre and pulled away. There was no chance on closing the gap of ober three seconds to Augusto Fernandez, and so he took a fantastic fifth place, his best Jerez result ever, 11 World Championship points and  now ranks in sixth place of the World Championship with 47 points in total. 

His nine years younger teammate Jeremy Alcoba, did the same, even though he had an even further way to go in the points coming from P23. The local hero wanted to shine at his home Grand Prix and so he did. He painstakingly made his way to the front in blisteringly hot conditions, heading for the points. On lap 7 of 23, the 20-year-old was already heading for the point bringing positions in P18. In the following laps, the youngster battled diligently against experienced riders like Dalla Porta and Manzi. The Moto2 rookie crossed the finish line in a magnificent twelfth place and thus collects another 4 points for his World Championship account and once again goes out strengthened as the best rookie from the first of four Grand Prix on Spanish soil. 

Now it's time to take this confidence boost to Le Mans in France, where the seventh round of the Moto2 World Championship will be held from 13th - 15th of May.

Warm-Up:
1. Sam LOWES/ GBR/ KALEX – 1:41.587
2. Fermín ALDEGUER/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – 1'41.788 (+ 0.201)
3. Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX – 1'41.798 (+ 0.211)
24. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX – 1'43.202 (+1.615)

Race

1.   Ai OGURA / JPN / KALEX
2.   Aron CANET / SPA / KALEX (+2.509)
3.   Tony ARBOLINO / ITA / KALEX (+3.669)
5.   Marcel SCHRÖTTER/ GER/ KALEX (+9.245)

12. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX (+33.308)

Championship
1. VIETTI Celestino / ITA / 100
2. OGURA Ai / JPN / 81
3. ARBOLINO Tony / ITA / 70
4. CANET Aron / SPA / 69
5. ROBERTS Joe / USA / 57
6. SCHRÖTTER Marcel / GER / 47
7. CHANTRA Somkiat / THA / 45
8. NAVARRO Jorge / SPA / 45
9. FERNANDEZ Augusto / SPA / 44
10. LOWES Sam / GBR / 35
11. BENDSNEYDER Bo / NED / 34
12. DIXON Jake / GBR / 32
13. ARENAS Albert / SPA / 29
14. ALCOBA Jeremy / SPA / 28
15. ACOSTA Pedro / SPA / 20

Team classification
1. IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA / 126
2. FLEXBOX HP40 / 114
3. ELF MARC VDS RACING TEAM / 105
4. MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM / 100
5. LIQUI MOLY INTACT GP / 75
6. RED BULL KTM AJO / 64
7. AUTOSOLAR GASGAS ASPAR TEAM / 61
8. ITALTRANS RACING TEAM / 58
9. PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / 40
10. LIGHTECH SPEED UP / 25
11. YAMAHA VR46 MASTER CAMP TEAM / 23
12. AMERICAN RACING / 19
13. RW RACING GP / 15
14. GRESINI RACING MOTO2 / 10
15. MV AGUSTA FORWARD RACING / 5