Ana Carrasco battles hard in a great performance at Austin
Ana Carrasco made a great performance in the Moto3 race of the Grand Prix of the Americas by finishing 21st. It was a tough and physically demanding race, partly due to the 87% humidity. But both RW Racing GP riders managed to fight all along and gain as many positions as possible.
The Circuit of the Americas is a demanding track by its own with its many changes of direction up and down the hills. The circumstances, with a constant threat of rain, made it even tougher.
Both Ana Carrasco and teammate Scott Deroue were lucky not to be caught out by crashes of other riders just in front of them. Carrasco could only just avoid a double crash in Turn 1 already, after she made a brilliant start in which she gained at least four positions.
Carrasco was able to battle her way through the pack, just like she predicted after qualifying on Saturday. Already after a few laps the Spanish lass met her team mate Scott Deroue, who was tangled up by another crash (Azmi) and had made a slight mistake in shifting gears. The Dutch rookie as well had a decent start, moving up from 25th on the grid to 20th position at the end of the first lap.
The two RW Racing GP riders hooked up with Philipp Oettl and it came down to the three of them to fight for 19th: the best possible left to gain. They entered the last lap almost side by side, with a maximum gap of 0,2 between them.
After changing places with Oettl a few times in the final corners Deroue came out as the winner, just in front of Oettl and Carrasco.
RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen was happy with the result and especially with the way his riders had battled all along the 99 kilometre long race. “Compliments in particular for Ana. She has been struggling in practices, but in the race she found the pace and the rhythm. In almost every lap of the race she was faster than she has been in practice. In the race you just have to make shift with what you’ve got: you can’t keep on thinking about setup and come in to make changes, you just have to put your head down and go for it. Let’s hope this is a confirmation for Ana she can do it in qualifying as well.”
Ana Carrasco – 21 (+1.02,695)
“Gaining 10 places from start to finish is something to be very happy with and I am.
I had a good start and made up some positions immediately. In Turn 1 I was just on the outside of Sissis and Locatelli when they touched each other and crashed. I saw it happening from the corner of my eye and I could just get out of the way. I was really lucky there.
It didn’t affect my rhythm and I could pick up the pace straight away. My speed was good, the bike was good, I’ve had some good battles. I enjoyed the race.
And even more importantly: I really have the feeling I’ve made a big step today. Hopefully I can keep this momentum going and next time start further to the front and then again make up that amount of positions. That would be awesome.”
Source: RW Racing GP
