Jordi Torres 11th, Nico Terol 22nd at Motegi
On the evidence of practice today’s Moto2 race looked certain to be a five-way scrap for victory but a break from Thomas Luthi proved crucial as the Swiss rider maintained his advantage to the end of the 23 laps.
Maverick Viñales pushed hard to close down the gap in the latter stages but had to settle for second place, with Tito Rabat extending his championship lead in third place.
Even though the result wasn’t quite as good as Aragón, Jordi Torres produced another intelligent race to pick up five more championship points at Motegi.
The MAPFRE Aspar rider has been building his confidence and feeling over the last couple of races and after seeing several riders crash around him today he maintained firm until the end to make sure of the points in eleventh place.
Nico Terol lost several positions on the first lap and despite fighting back he was unable to climb any higher than 22nd place.
11th Jordi Torres:
“We are back in the points but I am not satisfied with this result because I don’t feel like I rode well enough. When I was riding alone during practice my pace was quite good and I was able to play to my strengths, which is corner speed, but with others riders out there with me I was hard to ride like I want and I was losing ground on the exit of every turn. I have to adapt my riding style, especially in the early laps, to be more aggressive and hold my place on the track. Even though I am frustrated right now I was able to come away with a positive result and now we have to keep working to stay in the points.”
22nd Nico Terol:
“We are having to learn to suffer right now because it is not easy to be so far back in every race. It has been a difficult weekend here and I didn’t have the confidence to fight with the other riders on the early laps, or tackle the corners like I need to. It was hard to make passes because the bike wasn’t turning and that made it very difficult to make up any positions. I tried for the best possible result and we have to keep working hard to try and finish the season in a positive way.”
Source: Aspar Media
