Jorge Martin seventh at Aragon, Juanfran Guevara 21st

The Moto3 race at Motorland responded to expectations with a vibrant show. On Sunday, temperatures dropped slightly from the rest of the weekend and meant the pace was relatively slow –in the mid 1.59’s.

Ten riders formed a leading group, which was split on a frantic final two laps. Miguel Oliveira was the winner of the Aragon GP, ahead of Jorge Navarro and Romano Fenati.

Fourth on Friday and fourth yesterday, Jorge Martin this morning rounded off a great weekend. The youngest MAPFRE Team Mahindra rider was certain that MotorLand could be a favourable circuit for him, and did not waste the chance to shine in front of his home fans.

He started with determination and gained a position on the first lap, standing strong in the melee at the start of the race. However, his push to keep up with the leading group made him wear out his tyres early, and in the final third of the race he lost contact.

He kept pushing hard and his reward came with the crashes by other riders on the last lap. He finally concluded the race seventh, his best result so far, showing his constant evolution.

Less fortunate was Juanfran Guevara, who started in determined fashion but lacked feeling with the bike. He was overtaken by several riders and finally concluded in twenty-first place.

7th Jorge Martín:
“Today I gave everything. At the start I had so much fun riding, because I was able to fight with the front runners, but I had to open the throttle very early so that they didn’t escape, and the tyres went off as a result. I’m happy with this seventh place; hopefully we can continue to move forward at the flyaways. Although I lost touch with the leading group, I was certain that something would happen at the end of the race, because all the riders were very close together. So I concentrated on not slowing down and trying to exploit any situation or crash at the end. The chassis today worked perfectly, I had a great time fighting at the start of the race, and I’m just sorry I could not keep pushing because of the premature tyre wear. It was an amazing weekend, the team did an outstanding job from the first free practice, and I am very satisfied. But we must continue working for the next few races.”

21st Juanfran Guevara:
“We started the weekend quite well and yesterday took a positive grid position. We came to this circuit with high expectations because it was a good track for us last year, setting the circuit record and fighting to win the race. This morning in the warmup session I found things more difficult than usual. In the race, in the early laps I barely lost positions, but later it was hard to keep a consistent pace. We must investigate what happened today, because I did not feel comfortable riding; the feeling with the rear of the bike was very strange. Anyway, now this race is over and we must continue working. I hope to fight back at the next race.”