Faubel and Moncayo hoping to continue upwards trend at Catalunya
Four races into the new season and the Moto3 World Championship is proving all the predictions right by being… unpredictable. With four different winners so far, albeit in some drastically differing conditions, the goal of making the minor category more open to different riders has seemingly already been achieved. The fifth round of the season takes place this weekend in Barcelona with Sandro Cortese on top of the standings, the German holding a thirteen-point advantage over the Spanish Armada as they prepare for battle at their home circuit.
Amongst them will be BANKIA Aspar rider Alberto Moncayo, who intrepidly navigated his way to the podium in torrential conditions on French shores two weeks ago. Third place at Le Mans lifted the Spaniard to sixth in the championship and with technical updates planned for this weekend his confidence could not be higher going into his second home race of the season. His team-mate Héctor Faubel is also in good form despite having scuffed his leathers at Le Mans, where he led the race for several laps before crashing. Faubel, from relatively nearby Valencia, is hoping the bike updates serve him well in the predicted dry conditions and afford him the opportunity to challenge for the podium after his near miss two weeks ago.
Alberto Moncayo: “The confidence boost of a podium finish in the last race will be an important factor this weekend. It proves that we are doing a good job and the bike is developing as it should, so the team and I are all happy. I struggled to adapt to this track last year on the 125 but everything is different this time around so I am sure we can take another big step forward with the Moto3. The last round was a turning point for us and now we just need to keep working hard and looking to the future. Montmeló is a fast and very complete circuit, which usually has good grip. I never seem to have had great results there but we’ll be fighting to change that this weekend.”
Héctor Faubel: “Montmeló is a special circuit, it’s a home race for us – close to Valencia – and the fans always give us a lot of support so it’s a special race. The team is hoping to have some new stuff for us this weekend and I have blind faith that they will be productive. We are working hard to make sure that the Kalex is competitive and at Le Mans we showed our progress by leading the race for a few laps. It was a shame about the crash but there is always the risk of that happening in the wet. Anyway, I am taking the positives which is that I was able to run at the front again and be competitive. Hopefully at Montmeló that good feeling and high performance level can continue in the dry conditions.”
Source: Aspar Team
