Salom avoids risks to bring home sixth from Mugello race

Luis Salom lived up the reputation of RW Racing GP by bringing home another ten valuable championship points in the Italian GP. In a calculated race and without taking needless risks the Spanish rider finished sixth at the demanding Mugello circuit.

Only twice in the race Luis Salom took some risk. First time was at the start. Actually he had to thank race direction for not giving him a penalty for a jump start. “It was close to the edge”, Salom admitted. “But when you start from the front row you have to be on the edge and take some risks.”

Salom went into the first corner leading the pack, but he had to let Nico Terol and Johann Zarco pass. The two of them pulled away in the first lap and Salom choose to let them go.
Unfortunately his persuers, lead by Maverick Vinales, closed the gap and at Salom could not keep his third position. “That was not the time to take risks either”, Salom explained. “The tyres started to wear down pretty quickly. I can’t afford to crash. I just made sure I kept sixth in sight.”

Only in the final lap Salom took the risks he had to take to cross the line in sixth. ,”Racing with worn out tyres is not funny. The rear tyre was sliding a lot, but that was not too bad to handle. The front was a bigger issue. Several times I almost lost the bike in the long corners. It was pretty tricky.”

Nevertheless Salom put in lap times two seconds quicker than in qualifying. “That was due to the conditions”, crew chief Hans Spaan analysed. “Temperature was higher, it was dry and sunny.”
Spaan and team owner Roelof Waninge were very satisfied with the tactical race Salom rode. “Based on the practices we counted on a result somewhere between sixth and eighth. That makes sixth a very good result. Luis rode with common sense.”

With another top 10-finish – his sixth in eight rounds – Salom consolidated his seventh position in the 125 world championship.

Source: RW Racing GP