Josep Rodriguez to replace Miguel Oliveira at Dutch GP
Miguel Oliveira, who is still recovering from an injury suffered in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, received only yesterday the unexpected news that he can not participate in the Dutch Grand Prix. Josep Rodriguez, currently riding in the Spanish Championship, will instead ride alongside Alberto Moncayo in the colors of Team Andalucía – Banca Cívica – Diputación de Cádiz in Assen.
Yesterday, when everything indicated that it would be no problem for Miguel Oliveira to travel to Holland to return to action after the crash he suffered in Montmelo, he got unpleasant news: the doctor who examined Miguel did not let him pass the medical check to participate in the seventh Grand Prix of the season.
The team reacted as quickly as possible to make sure Josep Rodriguez could travel and participate in the race as a substitute for the Portuguese driver and ride the second bike of the Andalusian team.
Josep, who has participated three times in the 125cc world championship so far, is one of the most promising talents in the national championship and although crashes kept him from transforming his performance into results, everyone knows that the young Catalan rider is one of the reference points of the sport. This season Josep already managed a fantastic 15th place in the rain race at Jerez, taking first points in the world championship as a wildcard rider.
But in Assen the team will not only be joined by Josep Rodríguez. The team will from now on work with Santiago Abad, an experienced telemetry technician. Santiago arrives to further strengthen the technical structure of the team with highly qualified personnel and material to match the best in the World.
Meanwhile Alberto Moncayo returns to Assen where he had an excellent performance in his first visit to the Dutch track, finishing in 11th place last year.
JOSEP RODRIGUEZ: “Yesterday I got a call and in the afternoon I received the confirmation that I had the chance to race in the GP of the Netherlands, so I quickly packed my bags and now I’m here. This is the first time I ride here, but I know that I have no pressure and all I have to do is to come and have fun. Regarding the team, it’s been only a short while that I’m with them and I already feel like I’m at home, so I think things will be easy with them. In any case, I am very happy and hopefully can do a good performance.”
Alberto Moncayo: “We return to a track where we did a good job last year and hopefully we can repeat the good performance here. It is a technical circuit, for “men” I would say, where making a difference is not easy, but working step by step I think we can do well. Additionally we now have the help of Santi Abad, a telemetry specialist with extensive experience in the world championship with whom I think we can do a great job. “
PEDRO MACHADO: “Yesterday we received the news that Miguel was not in the physical conditions needed to participate in Assen, so we opted to give Josep a chance, who is a very fast rider and doing a great performance in the CEV. This way we will have both bikes on the track and I’m sure we can do a good job at this circuit.”
Source: Team Machado
