More, from a press release issued by Red Bull:
Uriarte snatches Le Mans Race 2 Rookies win from Quiles at final turn
The perfect, dramatic, braking lunge into Le Mans’ final first-gear double right gave victory to Brian Uriarte. Fellow Spaniard and Rookies Cup Race 1 victor Màximo Quiles survived the shock and a nasty front wheel slide to hold 2nd ahead of Malaysian Hakim Danish.
Argentina’s Valentin Perrone, one of the race’s many leaders, and Spain’s Álvaro Carpe were right on their tail with 0.617 seconds covering the top 5 KTMs.
Brian made the risk pay off in Race 2
“I’m super happy with this. I had a good ride yesterday and I was certainly going out to win today but you never know, there are many many things that should happen in the correct way if you are going to take the victory,” said the calm, well-spoken 15-year-old.
“I didn’t sleep that well last night and I could feel it today that I was a bit tired. The sleep wasn’t that good but when I woke up I did everything as usual and was completely focused. I was a bit angry with myself for yesterday’s mistake.”
“The track was a bit cooler today, in the second sighting lap I felt a couple of slippery patches but even in the opening laps it was completely perfect and the bike was great all through the race.”
“I worked a lot this weekend, the track is new for me, I tried so hard yesterday and I learnt, I used that today. You have to take a risk to win, I risked a lot into the last corner and I won.
Maximo takes 2nd and Cup points lead
“It was a great race, a bit difficult at the beginning to overtake,” explained the 16-year-old. “Then I got into the lead and everyone seemed a bit nervous because they knew I would have a good rhythm. I opened the group a bit it was not so close.”
“The bike did feel a bit different today, there was good grip but when I really pushed the front was sliding and a little bit uncomfortable for me.”
“Then in the last lap, I didn’t know what to do, I was in front and that’s not easy. They have the reference to brake and they used that, Brian braked later than me into the last corner and won.”
“Still second place is great, points for the championship and I am happy for that, looking forward to Mugello.”
Hakim did most of the leading after style change
“I made a good start and I managed to run at the front,” the 16-year-old enthused. “Better than yesterday as in Race 1 I struggled to match the pace of the front guys. This time I changed my riding, I had my body further forward and pushed my elbow down, I was scraping it through the corners and tried to open the throttle earlier in the corners and it worked very well.”
“In the last lap I tried to lead but two people overtook me, That’s OK I tried to overtake again. Into the last corner, I almost wanted to try a pass on Maximo and Brian but I was just too far away. I already overtook another rider the turn before and that cost me a little bit, I couldn’t go for the win at the last corner.”
“Anyway, I finished P3 and I look forward to the next race in Mugello, I thank everyone who supports me here and at home.”
Valentine learning well
“It was a difficult race with so many riders in the group,” explained the 16-year-old. “In the last lap, it was crazy with so many overtakes, I just couldn’t finish more in front, to be on the podium.”
“I am happy though with P4 with good points for the championship in what was a new track for me, I think I did a good job here and I am already looking forward to Mugello.”
Alvaro takes points rather than risk
“I enjoyed this race so much,” said the 16-year-old Spaniard who holds 2nd in the points chase. “It was faster than yesterday, my KTM was working well, good on the brakes and through the corners. The lead group was very fast, not too many overtakes but a really good pace.”
“Again I am happy with the points for the championship. When it came to the last 2 laps I didn’t feel confident enough to really push the extra to make the podium this time.”
Marco Morelli worked hard for 6th
“I enjoyed that a lot, it was a fast race,” enthused the Argentine 16-year-old who had fallen off early on the first lap on Saturday. “I don’t know if I did the fastest lap but I think I did a 43 so I think that was good,” he stated and indeed he did take the fastest lap of the race and a new lap record officially at 1m 44.019s.
“I was a bit cautious in the opening lap after yesterday’s mistake. Mid-race I was in the second group and that is not good enough. With 5 laps to go you need to be up front so I had to push hard.”
“I tried, I finished P6, that’s better than yesterday when I got no points and let’s see in Mugello.”
Veda Pratama recovered from error to take 7th
“I am happy with the race and the result,” stated the 15-year-old Indonesian. “I managed to get into the front group and that is what I needed to do. Just in the last two laps I made a mistake and I lost the group and had to fight back in the last lap.”
“The result could have been better but I will learn and try to do better in Mugello.”
Rico Salmela suffers technical issue.
“In the middle of the race I started to feel that when opening the gas there wasn’t the same power and it just got less and less,” explained the 16-year-old Finn who had run at the front early on and was 2nd in Race 1.
More, from a press release issued by Kristian Daniel Jr. Racing:
RED BULL MOTOGP ROOKIES CUP: KRISTIAN DANIEL JR WITH ANOTHER STRONG PERFORMANCE IN FRANCE
Kristian Daniel Jr with a top 10 finish in his first ever visit to Circuit Le Mans
May 12th – Circuit Bugatti Le Mans
The picturesque Circuit Bugatti – Le Mans hosted the 2nd round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup (alongside the MotoGP event), which was young American Kristian Daniel Jr’s first visit to the French iconic track. The format of the Rookies Cup race weekends is that there are two 25 minute practice sessions held Friday, followed by 20 minute qualifying. One race is held Saturday afternoon and another race held early Sunday morning. This means that there aren’t many laps for first year Rookies like Kristian Daniel to get up to speed on new tracks, but in spite of the limited track time, the young Californian was able to end the weekend with two good results.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon in France, which had over 200,000 spectators across the whole weekend, Kristian put on quite a show! Starting the first race from 13th position, he had already made it up to 8th position within the first few corners. A rider just ahead ended up hitting a false neutral, causing Kristian to slam into the back of his bike, almost crashing and demoting him back to 15th. The young American gathered himself and was quickly on the rebound. The front 7 riders had made a gap, so his goal was to at least make it to the front of the 2nd group (10th position). After he made it to the front of the group, he and Indonesian rider Veda Pretama called a truce for a few laps, sitting in 10th and 11th, and put down a few fast laps which created a 2.1 second gap to the 12th place rider. Kristian sat patiently behind Pretama, waiting for the last corner of the last lap to make a lunge, which he did but Pretama was able to cut back and took 10th position by .0018 of a second, Kristian Daniel finishing 11th.
Race two was underway early the next morning at 8:30 AM, but that wasn’t too early for the French fans as the Grandstands were packed already! Kristian Jr started race 2 similar to race 1, where he found himself sitting in the top 8 for the first few laps. After riding at a hot pace with the front group, the excitement and anxiousness got the best of him, and with a fatigued body and mind made a few mistakes and fell back to 11th. The young LA native gave himself a few laps to calm his nerves, and set off after the 10th place rider. Closing the gap, he prepared the end of the race much like the day before, planning on making a lunge at the end of the race. Half way through the final lap, he made a strong move into 10th position, and held it until the finish line!
Starting his first Red Bull MotoGP Rookie Cup season with another top 10 shows great promise for the rest of the season! His next race is in the 2nd championship he races, called the JuniorGP European Talent Cup, and will be held May 19th in Barcelona, Spain! The next Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will be in Italy, at the majestic Mugello circuit!
