Maverick’s title hopes go down to the wire at Valencia
The Japanese GP was frantic, and Maverick Viñales’ second place, together with the failures of both his title rivals Luis Salom and Alex Rins, threw the championship wide open again with only one race to go.
Whoever out of the three wins in Valencia will be proclaimed Moto3 world champion.
The Team Calvo rider will go into the last round as second in the standings, 2 points behind leader Salom and 3 ahead of Rins. It’s impossible to imagine anything more tense and exciting.
Ana Carrasco completed Team Calvo’s joy after a great comeback that saw her start from the last grid position and finish in 18th place. After yesterday’s massive problems during the wet qualifying, Ana leaves Japan content and with lots more race experience, ready to move into the last round of the year at the Valencian circuit Ricardo Tormo.
#25 Maverick Viñales – 2nd place / @maverickmack25
This second place almost feels like a victory. I really didn’t expect both of them to crash today. I believe it’s been a good weekend, we could fight at the front in the wet as well as in the dry and during the race I gave it my all. On the last lap I made a mistake, otherwise the race win could have been mine, but I didn’t want to crash either. In Valencia there can’t be any excuses that the bike doesn’t go well or anything like that. I’ll have to give my absolute maximum to win the race and the title.
#22 Ana Carrasco – 18th place / @AnaCarrasco_22
I’m very happy with the race because I started from 35th place and I finished 18th. I was able to make up many positions even though the bike setup wasn’t 100% due to the lack of preparation time. The race was a bit of a strange one and it didn’t end too badly for us and therefore I’m satisfied. It’s been a very difficult weekend for everyone, but especially for the new people. In these past three races I’ve learnt a lot and I hope to be able to ride fast in Valencia and get back into a position where I want to be.
Pablo Nieto (Team Director) / @pablonieto22
This race could give you a heart attack but Maverick mastered it perfectly. He only made a small mistake in that last lap and the victory escaped him. But the championship got turned around and we go into Valencia with all the chances and the success depends entirely on us. At home, with the support of all fans and our sponsors Calvo and JHK T-Shirt, surely we can top off a dream season. Ana also had a fantastic race from the first until the last lap, catching up to 18th place from 35th. Surely she’ll be fighting for points again in Valencia.
Source: Team Calvo
