Sean Dylan Kelly 20th and Rory Skinner 22nd in the #PortugueseGP

The American Racing Team leaves Portimão with some valuable learnings and experience as Sean Dylan Kelly crossed the line in 20th position after a rollercoaster weekend whilst Rory Skinner takes 22nd on his first visit to the Algarve in six years.

Sean’s weekend started off as mixed as Friday’s weather. Rain in FP1 curtailed the session but as the track cleared up for FP2, Sean made stellar progress but narrowly missed out on a direct spot into Q2 by a mere 0.13s. Unfortunately, a mistake on his final flying lap during Qualifying prevented SDK from advancing any further than 24th on the grid.

Sean made a steady start to the race as he battled with Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Dennis Foggia for a spot in the top 20. After making his way into 18th position, he was pushed back down into 20th where he ended the race.

Rookie Rory’s first weekend as a full-time Moto2 rider got underway with a steady start as the Scot ended the weather-shortened Friday running in 25th position, only two seconds off the top. Rory continued to make good progress throughout Saturday as he adjusted to the Moto2 machinery, ending Qualifying in 25th position.

Rory’s learning curve continued on Sunday but the Scot handled it well. Making up two positions by the halfway mark, Rory avoided any drama to bring the bike back in 22nd place with some valuable grand prix experience under his belt.

Sean Dylan Kelly #4 –
Overall, it was a really solid weekend and I’m happy with the work we did. It was definitely not the final result I was looking to get in the race but I’m just sticking with the positives because I’m happy with the feeling that I had all race long and the battles that I had with all the guys from lap one through to the chequered flag. I was in a good fight, I was in a pretty good position and the feeling that I had on the bike was something that I haven’t had ever on this Moto2 bike so, we’re working in the right direction and it gives me a lot of confidence going into the next few rounds because Portimão isn’t my strongest track so, to be able to leave with this feeling definitely gives me confidence going into other weekends like Argentina which I think will be a good track for me.
I’m really excited for Argentina as it’s pretty much my second home race and I’m really excited to see my family again first and then ride at a track that I really enjoyed last year.

Rory Skinner #33 –
My debut full-time grand prix race was good! It was nice to finally get a race under my belt this year. Having done the wildcards last year, it was good, but I was in the middle of my British Superbike season so they just kind of faded into vivid memory because it was such a hectic time. But I had a good time and worked out a couple of things that I need to improve with my riding and with the bike as well and we worked really well as a team which is good since it’s our first grand prix weekend with everybody here. I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to going on to Argentina.