Salom highly frustrated with engine problem hampering fight for first victory

The RW Racing GP team almost could not believe what they saw in the race for the German Grand Prix. Both of their riders Luis Salom and Brad Binder were battling in the top 5. Unfortunately an overheated engine took out Binder with just six laps to go. Salom ended on the podium again, but he was not too happy with his result as he was chasing his first victory.

The race at the Sachsenring started half an hour late due to horrendous weather. It was raining cats and dogs and therefore is was too dangerous to start the race. The start was on a soaking wet track on which the order of the grid was messed up immediately. But in lap 7 the rain stopped and the sun came out. A dry line showed up soon after and every rider had difficulties cooling the tires and the engines as temperatures increased quickly. The last third of the race was on a near dry track with air temperature up to 27 degrees Celsius, giving almost everybody problems with overheating.

Sandro Cortese won in front of his home crowd, grabbing the lead in the championship. Alexis Masbou had his first podium finish in second. Maverick Viñales had a terrible qualifying and couldn’t make that up in the race. He finished with no points. Luis Salom remained a solid third in the championship.

Luis Salom (3rd): “The conditions were so difficult. I had a good start and I was able to fight in the front of the leading group all the time. But when the sun came out and the track began to dry, it became even more difficult. It became harder and harder to cool the engine and the tires and I could feel the power going down. I made a mistake in turn 1 and I just didn’t have the power to get back to Cortese and Masbou. I knew I would miss another chance for victory and actually I have to be happy I finished third. But at the moment itself it was so frustrating that I smashed my window. I’m sorry for that.”

Team manager Johan Stigefelt: “We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw both riders fighting in the top 5. Everybody was so nervous. We knew Luis was able to battle for a win, but we were pleasantly surprised with Brad. He did a tremendous job in that leading group. It’s a pity he couldn’t take it to the finish.”

Source: RW Racing GP Press Release