Aragon GP. When everything seems to start in the right direction, we always end up on Saturday with general anger. Mine, riders’, everyone at the end goes in his own office, alone. It is difficult to work together, almost as in a wedding! The most important thing is, after that moment of anger, to be able to discuss, metabolize the fact, breath and go on.
Antonelli was fast, good in the free practices, penalized later. The rule is: you can’t ride slower than 107% of your best time in that sector for more than three times. At the end of qualifying he had a 12 positions penalty. But it didn’t stopped him, on the contrary he took another penalty which made him starting from the last position in the grid. It’s not possible to commit such mistakes, especially because if in the next races he’ll take another penalty the risk is to skip the following race. Marco Grana will have to undertake to prevent it to happen again, the starting grid is too important for the evolution of the race.
Tatsuki had few “up and down” during the practice sessions and then, at the last corner of the last lap of the qualifying he arrived long, ruining the succession of red helmets he was making, closing 16th. This is the moment when I said inside myself: “I’ll go to my office to reflect”; Tatsu’s father came in Aragon from Japan so I thought it would have been up to him to scold him. To demonstrate not so many are paying attention to the penalization’s rule, a lot of riders where demoted so he could start from the 8th position, only positive note. So, after a Saturday in fibrillation and full of anger, we defuse about qualifying, thinking about a new strategy: we won’t aim at the pole position anymore, you just need to be in the first two rows and then it will be up to other riders with penalties. Just kidding!
And then Sunday. After the big mess of the grid positions under 30 degrees, Aragon took out the best part of the Japanese. An aggressive Tatsuki, secure, complete as I would like him to be and as I think he really is. He closed in a great 6th position fighting almost until the end. In the last 2-3 lapses he steps a little back, maybe conditioned by the double zero of the last two races. It was fair even if they should ride race by race, without thinking about points an rankings.
Also Antonelli, who started as last, goes forward in a tenacious way when, at 1 second from the heading group, he lost the control, crashing on the asphalt. It was a pity but we have nothing to say if WELL DONE, you didn’t quit.
I’m happy because we’re coming out from the dark period of contractual misunderstandings and and bad races.. we were lost but someone wrote you can find yourself only when completely lost. We’ll see…
This weekend we’ll be back in Spain, Jerez, with CEV. I’m curious and at the same time worried for Patacca’s comeback, after the brutal accident he had in Sachsenring. I don’t want him to compromise himself coming back too early, so we’ll be studying the situation with doctors after the first practices.
-PaoloSic58-