Runaway Victory For Nico Terol At Indianapolis

The 125cc race at Indianápolis provided a continuation of what had been seen all weekend. BANKIA Aspar rider Nico Terol proved to be a class above at the American circuit, breaking free and leaving the rest of the field in his dust. Three riders looked to pick up the podium scraps once Terol had made his move, and Viñales, Faubel and Zarco were favourites to join him on the rostrum. Later on, Cortese and Gadea joined the fight, in a finale that saw all riders battling against degrading tyres. Terol took the win, with Viñales second and Cortese third.

Nico Terol has always had a strong affinity for Indianapolis, as it was the scene of his first Grand Prix triumph back at the inaugural event. He put the hammer down in his quest to win for the second consecutive year, with a series of fast early laps. Misfortune had struck him at Brno, but in Indianapolis he was unstoppable. He was the only rider to record qualifying-esque lap times on race day, and was the deserved winner stateside. His advantage as World Championship leader extends to 26 points.

Héctor Faubel was part of the chasing pack, riding an intelligent race based on tyre conservation. However, it wasn’t enough to preserve the front rubber on his bike, and thus he eventually dropped down to seventh on the final laps.

Adrián Martín did not even get to finish the race, having suffered the same problems as Faubel. He crashed out with three laps remaining, but was unhurt and will be ready to participate at Misano next weekend.

1st Nico Terol:
“My aim was to concentrate fully from the start and find the same pace that I had in practice. This was the key to the race. I broke away from the front group and maintained the gap in the second half of the race. Tyre performance dropped dramatically, but I focused on not making any mistakes and was really comfortable. This is the track at which I took my first win and it is always a good circuit for me, and we saw that today. This victory and Zarco’s fifth place take us back to a strong advantage in the overall standings. We took 25 points today, but the way in which we did it makes me even happier. Our pace was excellent, and I hope to keep it up. The team obviously play a huge part in this success, because it isn’t easy to set the bike up at this track. Now we have to take things race-by-race, without thinking about the general standings.”

7th Héctor Faubel:
“The race started really well. I was behind Viñales and Zarco but chose not to attack in order to conserve my tyres. I had spoken with my mechanics beforehand, and our strategy was to save the rubber as best we could. Zarco nearly crashed halfway through the race, and I had to take evasive action to avoid him -which I only just managed to do. Then Gadea’s group caught up with us. We had worked with used tyres over the weekend, so I believed that I knew more or less how the bike would respond. However, at the end of the race the rubber was destroyed. It’s a pity that we didn’t finish off a positive week in the best way. I understand that the majority of riders had issues with the abrasive asphalt here. I had to perform some real miracles when the bike was sliding about on the final laps, with one scare after another.”

Adrián Martín (DNF):
“I started the race with a fresh mindset, trying to forget recent disappointments from the past four races. I wanted to fight right from the get-go to gain as many places as possible. I was riding faster than in practice and felt comfortable, but when Oliveira passed me I felt the tyre performance drop significantly. I lost the front every time I entered a corner, especially when I was going more slowly. I tried to be as smooth as possible in order to keep upright, but it became impossible and I fell with three laps to go. We are going through a run of bad luck, but we will keep working to get through it as soon as possible.”

Source: Aspar Media