A partially wet track and clear skies greeted Estrella Galicia 0,0 Moto3 riders Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez on Sunday at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Aron Canet led the way in the warmup, ahead of his start from fifteenth place on the grid. Off the line he would drop places but regrouped soon after, ending the first lap in sixteenth before climbing his way up to eighth by Lap 6. A further push got him into the lead group, taking him to second behind Marco Bezzecchi. In a fight for victory involving a group of eight riders, Canet led the race for the first time eight laps from the chequered flag, but just a few moments later he lost the front end of his bike on the entry to Turn 1, crashing out. The Spaniard remains sixth in the World Championship with 128 points.
Eleventh place in the warmup showed Alonso Lopez’ consistent progress from the start of the weekend, and he tried to continue this in the race. Starting the Malaysian GP from seventeenth, he quickly moved up to tenth place in the early laps. Several overtaking moves followed as he hovered around twelfth place, but unfortunately he would go down 10 laps from the end, in a crash involving John McPhee and Dennis Foggia. This result keeps Lopez 23rd in the standings with 31 points.
The last race of the Moto3 World Championship season will be held on November 18th at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia.
EMILIO ALZAMORA – “Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez both performed at a high level”
“Both Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez performed at a high level all weekend, and this effort was reflected in the race. Despite his crash in qualifying, Aron was having an impeccable race, coming back from outside the points. It’s a shame about his crash in the race, because he was on course to achieve a great result -the victory was clearly within his reach when he fell.
Alonso had also made great progress over the weekend, and in the last few races he had been getting closer and closer to the fastest riders. He hit a damp patch and couldn’t prevent the crash, but the positive thing is that he is getting more competitive all the time.”
ARÓN CANET – “The positive thing is that we could have won”
“ At the start of the race I saw that everyone was pushing very hard. I followed the same strategy as last year, which consisted of steady progress. I was getting closer to the front, I was comfortable and I was riding very aggressively. When I took the lead, I established a gap of 6 tenths in just four corners. It was the perfect time to get away and that’s what I tried to do, but I made a mistake by braking later than usual at the first corner. It’s a shame, because it came about as I was expecting the other riders to try to overtake me. Had I known that I had that advantage, I would not have rushed things so much. The positive thing is that we could have won.”
ALONSO LÓPEZ – “I was having a good race”
“The most positive thing is that we are getting closer all the time, consolidating our pace. I’m happy because I am going fairly fast without references, which is especially good ahead of next year. It’s a shame about the crash, because I was having a good race. I was overtaking a lot of riders, I felt very good and maybe that confidence led me to crash when I touched the wet patch. I’m sorry to have dragged McPhee and Foggia into the incident. I hope to have a good race in Valencia and to continue enjoying myself.”
