Luis Salom extends championship lead with 2nd at Sachsenring

In a spectacular eighth Moto3 race of the season, Luis Salom took second place for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team. The Spanish rider goes into the summer break with a perfect podium record so far this season, and with a 14 point lead over second-placed Maverick Viñales in the overall standings. Arthur Sissis, tenth, achieved his third consecutive top ten finish, whilst Zulfahmi Khairuddin —sixteenth— came close to the points.

The current World Championship leader held his starting position —second— on the first lap of the race. Patient, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider rounded off the leading group, joining Alex Rins and Viñales as he decided upon his strategy. With four laps remaining, Salom launched a strong attack on Rins, although on the on the penultimate corner of the race his rival got past him for the victory.

After this race, the Moto3 World Championship takes a summer break of almost five weeks —with Luis Salom leading the class with 4 wins and a total of 8 podiums and 172 points. Zulfahmi Khairuddin, eleventh, has 40 points, one more than teammate Arthur Sissis in twelfth.

Luis Salom
“I think we can be very happy, because we have eight podium finishes from eight races and four wins. It was a shame not to win today, but I still think I have to improve as a rider from here to the end of the season, because today it was my fault that I lost the race. I never fully got used to the first sector, which needed improvement.
In this category all victories are tight and your strategy does not always work. Today it was like that, so I’ll have to think a little more in the following races. All three of us have the same bike and are very fast, so it’s hard trying to escape. I thought I could save the tyres a little, but they ended up very similar to those of the others.”

Source: Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport