Texan disappointment
The Grand Prix of the Americas represented a special event for the Trackhouse team, which in front of its home crowd took to the track not only with an ad hoc livery, but also with the primary objective of obtaining results that would have allowed the US team to defend second position in the general classification. A placement that, to date, it maintains tied with Red Bull KTM, but at the end of a race that could have given extra points if it hadn’t been for the bad luck that hit Ai Ogura.
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Ruined race
Protagonist of an exciting comeback, with decisive overtakes that had brought him up to fifth position (the same obtained in Brazil), the Japanese rider seemed to be in a position to even aim for fourth place, but right at this juncture he had to give up due to a technical problem that forced him to retire: “For sure my team and I are not happy with what happened – he commented with bitterness – I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry for Team Trackhouse, everyone works hard but in the end we couldn’t get what we deserved. My team is still checking what went wrong, it’s not my job. At the end of the first sector I started to see a warning and after that the bike was no longer working well. Of course, there are also many positive aspects to take from this weekend. It was positive to have been really very competitive, especially in the main race”.
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Important points
Not 100% satisfied with his weekend, once again after Brazil, teammate Raul Fernandez. The Spaniard was also the protagonist of a comeback finished in eighth position, decisive for the Aprilia satellite team in order to maintain second position in the world standings: “It didn’t go as planned, but when you’re thirteenth on the grid it’s quite difficult to overtake. We knew it and we gave our best. The positive thing is that the feeling with the bike is back like in Thailand and I felt quite comfortable. However, when there is a long straight, we need to find something more to fight with the others. Basically, I think I feel comfortable in all areas, but it’s not enough to stay with the lead group, so we have to find that something extra. During the race I tried to manage the situation, preserving the tires for the last part of the race. It was good in terms of race pace, starting from thirteenth position. I’m not happy, but taking points in these types of races is important. Overall, we had a good weekend, but the negative thing was qualifying and at Jerez we will have to work a bit more in free practice to try to get into Q2 immediately”.
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