DNF ends tough night for Jorge Martin in Qatar
With less than a second separating no fewer than nineteen riders on the grid in qualifying yesterday, tonight’s opening race of the Moto3 season was always going to be a close affair.
Virtually the entire field made up the lead group over the opening four laps but as the pace settled at the front into the mid-2’06s a group of five made a break.
Three riders (Bulega, Loi and Bastianini) managed to join the party in a thrilling finale that saw constant changes at the front, with Antonelli making the most of a slipstream from Binder to take the win by just 0.007 seconds at the line.
Jorge Martín enjoyed contrasting fortunes tonight, getting beaten up at the start and constantly losing ground on the straights. The Spaniard was eventually forced to retire on the penultimate lap.
Jorge Martín (DNF):
“It was a tough race for us tonight here at Losail. At the start my pace was really good but I was losing a lot of ground to my rivals on the straights and eventually dropped back. I tried to make it up in the corners but I didn’t have a great feeling with the bike. I tried to finish the race but it wasn’t possible so we have to keep working hard to make sure we have a better feeling in the next race.”
Source: Aspar