RODRIGO’S SEASON ENDS; ALCOBA 11th IN QUALIFYING
#AlgarveGP qualifying. It was surely a challenging Saturday for Team Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 and especially for Gabriel Rodrigo, who bid his early farewell to the 2021 season as he withdrew for this round and next week’s final event of the year.
The Argentine rider was really in pain yesterday already, but three laps in FP3 were enough for him to bring to year of racing to an early end. The #2, who got injured at Aragón in early September, did not manage to recover from a shoulder injury that at the beginning was diagnosed as a minor one, though it was not the case in the end.
Just like in recent races, Jeremy Alcoba ended up being the only standard bearer for the team on track. After topping the Q1 session, he finished qualifying in 11th place. His personal best lap-time, however, was slightly over half a second slower than today’s pole position. The penultimate race of the season will get underway at 11:20 local time (GMT)
11º – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 (1’47.829)
“I’m a little upset, even though we depend too much on other riders’ slipstreams at this track. We cannot seem to find the right set-up here: I lose plenty of ground on corner exit from the other riders and then I make up for the lost ground under braking – and even get held up mid turn. The race will be a difficult one because of all this, so we need to look for the right strategy.”
GABRI RODRIGO #2
“We decided with the team to not race in Valencia either. After two months we’re still in this condition, so few days won’t be enough to be back at a competitive level. It’s been a really difficult decision because an era comes to a close for me both in Moto3 and with Team Gresini, and I wished it had ended in a different way. I want to thank the team who fully supported me in this decision.”
