More, from a press release issued by Red Bull:
Holgado fastest all day in Valencia 2 Rookies finale
While Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup winner Pedro Acosta was knocking the dirt from his Alpinestars leathers and the mechanics were furiously rebuilding his KTM RC 250 R, Daniel Holgado was calmly taking pole position for the last two races of the season.
15-year-old Holgado topped the timing sheets all day in fact and when fellow Spaniard, 16-year-old Acosta, set out to end that run he was thrown off. He did get out later in the session but his earlier first flying lap, the one before his fall was his quickest and good enough for 2nd on the grid.
So Holgado is in form to match last Sunday’s first Cup win and last Saturday’s victor, 16-year-old David Salvador, completes the all Spanish front row.
Holgado the man on a mission
“I am very happy for my first Rookies Cup pole. I had a good feeling with the bike right from the start of FP1. The bike was great all the way through FP2 and Qualifying.”
“After last week when we didn’t have any dry sessions we raised the back of the bike and that gave me more grip on acceleration so I am very confident going into the race. I’m going to try and win again,” he concluded with cheeky confidence.
Acosta ready for the battle
“On my first flying lap I went so fast. I saw 41.7 and I thought that if I did 1.7 in the first lap then I can do 0.9 or 1.0. I think that in the corner I went in late on the brakes and fast and I pushed full gas too early and I highsided.”
“The guys did an incredible job to rebuild the bike so that I could go out again and do some laps, they are great professionals. I am OK and I have a good feeling for the race. Dani (Holgado) was so so fast today but tomorrow I think that I can break the group with him.”
Salvador not fast enough
“I am very happy with the Qualifying because in FP1 we changed the settings from last weekend and I didn’t like it, I didn’t have a good feeling on the brakes. So we changed again and it was much better.”
“I am happy with the good feeling but I’m not so happy with the lap time. It is not that fast,” explained Salvador who is 0.435 seconds off pole. “But I start from the front row and I think I can be in the battle for the win.”
Izan Guevara to go out in style
“I’m really happy for the 4th and tomorrow I can battle in the group,” enthused Izan Guevara, the 16-year-old Spaniard who already has a Moto3 World Championship contract for 2021. “It is my last weekend in the Rookies Cup, I won in the last weekend of the CEV here so I would like to win in my last Rookies Cup weekend.”
Mario Aji again the fastest non Spaniard
“I am quite happy because at the start of the session I didn’t get a good time,” explained Mario Aji, the 16-year-old Indonesian. “I got quicker but there were a lot of riders out there who were not going fast and I think the tyre temperature started to drop but I managed.”
“We tried quite a few different settings today, I am not sure it is perfect but I will try and get on the podium tomorrow.”
Broadcast
This weekend’s Rookies Cup races can be seen live on www.redbull.tv and on TV stations around the world.
Race 1 is at 16:55 CET on Saturday and Race 2 is on Sunday at 15:30, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.
