HUSQVARNA LAGLISSE RIDERS TACKLE DIFFICULT CONDITIONS IN JAPAN MOTO3 GP

[totalmotorcycle]

@HUSQVARNA #LAGLISSE #RIDERS TACKLE DIFFICULT CONDITIONS IN @JAPAN #MOTO3 GP
LORENZO DALLA PORTA 24th; MARIA HERRERA 26TH

Husqvarna Laglisse riders Lorenzo Dalla Porta of Italy and Spaniard Maria Herrera were faced with extreme weather conditions at Round 15 of the MotoGP Moto3 World Championship in Japan on Sunday. They did well to finish in a race that offered many challenges on a circuit that was new to them both.

Heavy rain and fog caused big delays in the warm-up and finally officials declared the race on the Motegi Circuit would be run over just 13 laps, making it more of a sprint race on a still wet track.

Dalla Porta got away well and at least in the opening laps was in a possible points earning position until he came together with another rider in the fifth lap and crashed. He managed to get back into the race at the back of the field and rode with determination to recover to 24th position by the finish.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta: “At first I was doing well but after another rider bumped me I wasn’t able to avoid the crash. It’s a shame it happened, but that’s racing. Apart from this incident I was going well in the rain and I think I could have managed a good result.” The young Italian only joined the team in the season’s break in summer and has showed promise in the races he has so far contested.

Teammate Maria Herrera admitted after the race that she had not felt particularly comfortable in the difficult and wet conditions. She too got away well but had a couple of close calls in the opening laps and decided to take a cautious approach and concentrate on getting to know the circuit.

Maria Herrera: "The start was pretty good and I was able to move up a couple of positions. But in these wet conditions, I think we would have needed more laps. I had a couple of big scares so I concentrated on slowly adapting to the track, not risk too much and to finish the race. It was very good experience for me and this will be useful in future.”

Idalio Gavira (Team Sporting Director): "We are a bit disappointed because we had high hopes of being in the top ten with Lorenzo in dry conditions and also for Maria to earn championship points. But when it rains the race becomes a lottery. Dalla Porta was going very well in the early laps and was in a group of very fast riders before he got touched and went down. As for Maria, she made a good start but then had some scares and preferred not to take risks because she was not comfortable in these conditions.”

Teams now go to Australia to compete next weekend at Phillip Island in the second of three overseas races. The third in the series as at Sepang, Malaysia the following weekend.