It was a good performance from the three riders in the Asia Talent Team in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship at Aragon.
On Sunday MotorLand Aragon played host to the fourth round of the FIM CEV Repsol, including two races for the Moto3™Junior World Championship in which the Asia Talent Team riders performed admirably.
In scenes similar to the races in Barcelona just two weeks ago, Kaito Toba once again found himself involved in the battle for the podium. The Japanese rider improved his time by over one second and a half from qualifying to get involved in a fight with thirteen other riders for second place. Toba eventually finished the first race in tenth, but just 1.2s behind the second place rider.
Once again, luck deserted Toba in the second race, as after a good start he was caught up in an incident with Vanhaeren and Valtulini (who was second in race one), unfortunately crashing out on just the third lap with another good result possible.
Adam Norrodin and Yuta Date both suffered from issues in the first race, that prevented them from performing as expected in race one. In the second race thought, they responded well to both meet their goal of both finishing in the points, with Norrodin in 11th and Date in 15th.
Alberto Puig – Project Leader:
“Another difficult weekend for these guys here in Aragon. Toba unfortunately crashed in the second race when he was quite on top. But he made a mistake and crashed, so we couldn’t see the real potential in the second race. The other two riders were struggling a little bit, but we could see a little improvement in Date’s performance in the second race, but it was still not enough. Adam seems to be struggling with a lack of confidence.
It’s clear that it was not easy weekend for them and it is definitely clear that this European racing experience is not being easy for them. But once again we knew that this was the job, like a scholarship team for them and this is what we have to do at this moment. I am sure in the near future they will make a step and we will see it from a different point of view”.
Kaito Toba:
“First race was better because I did a very good start and then step-by-step I raced in the second group. I pushed very hard but could not get a better position. In the second race I started very good but I crashed on the third lap in the last turn. For the next race I need to focus and race with more concentration to get better results”.
Yuta Date:
“In race one I did a very big mistake at the start, so there was a very big gap for me since the first corner from the front group. I was pushing hard with a group of riders in the next 5-6 laps and I managed to get lower lap times. In the second race I could follow the front group for the first three laps, but then the tyres were a little bit sliding and my times were slower. I couldn’t overtake other riders in the group”.
Adam Norrodin:
“This weekend was very hard for me. My feeling was different from the beginning, we tried to push hard to get good performance. In the first qualifying we had bad luck as I crashed very early in the session. Then we tried so hard in the second qualifying but it still was not enough. I was very concentrated on the races. In the first race I tried to do my best but it is a little bit tough, I push to get a good rhythm but was not so lucky. In the second race I pushed very hard but couldn’t get better as the weather conditions were too hot being different from any previous session. Now I need to take the positive from the experience here and focus on the next races to improve my results”.
You can see all the results from the weekend by clicking here.
The fifth round of the FIM CEV Repsol will take place on September 6 at the Circuito de Albacete.
