The morning warm up at the Sepang Circuit was held without rain, but with still some water patches on the track due to the night rain and the fact that the new tarmac does not dry as quickly as expected here. The Argiñano & Ginés Racing Team riders could do 9 laps to try and fine-tune their Kalex for the race, that was declared wet, as it started to rain 20 minutes before beginning.
The race finished early for Áxel Pons, as before the end of the second lap his bike threw him out and he was force to retire, luckily with no injuries. Meanwhile, Marcel Schrötter started from 22nd and 4 laps later he was already 17th. The German rider led a group of 5 that had a space of 2 and half seconds in front of them. He lost the position and 7 laps before the end he was 20th. He could not improve. By mid-race the rain stopped and was drying, but not completely.
Our congratulations to the World Champion Johann Zarco, who mathematically secured the title today, but also to his main rivals this season, Álex Rins and Tom Luthi. The three of them made the fans enjoy a lot. And good luck to Rins to secure the runner-up spot in Valencia.
The AGR finished a tour of 3 tough weeks, where we did our best, and now we need to rest a few days. It will not be many, as the World Championship will finish in Cheste next November 13th and we will also finish the Moto2 European Championship a week later in the same venue.
Marcel Schrötter: I can’t ride in the wet
“A huge disaster. I don’t know what to say. I don’t understand what’s happening. We weren’t able to find the way for me to be comfortable on this bike. I can’t ride this bike on wet tarmac, that’s all”.
Áxel Pons: We need a secure result
“I’m disappointed. When I saw that it rained I knew it would be more complicated. I tried to keep the pace of the leaders and I lost the rear. The positive thing is that we were there the whole weekend, but in the race, we need to secure a result. We keep our motivation to do a good race in Valencia”.
Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko