The hot weather in Barcelona, Antonelli’s issue with his shoulder which put him out of the games for the weekend and Tatsuki’s crashes, made me feel like going back home… I still cannot decide if it was a satisfying or disappointing weekend. I am going to tell you what happened with my usual frankness. Free practice on Friday: my analysis of Mugello’s race hit Suzuki a lot who, in order to demonstrate me that I was wrong, crashes just a couple of times… without a reason. Niccolò pace is fast since the beginning, staying on 1’49’’ he is able to make very good practice sessions. Then, during Saturday FP3 he decides to overdo. To be “the very first” he gets lost with some useless details like understanding why he cannot improve one tenth at turn 4. This becomes such an issue that he looses his concentration and crashes causing a dislocation to his left shoulder. The doctors of Medical Center would declare him unfit for the race. Even though this was not a serious injury, times have changed and due to the latest dangerous accidents everybody is much more prudent than years ago. We discussed together with Niccolò about his obsession chasing the lost tenth which always turns up to be a problem. We will apply the supposed solution in Assen and let’s see if it works.
Tatsuki gives us his second first row of the season and cheers everybody up. On Sunday he is able to handle his race in the best way following Martin after a great start. Then Martin crashes and that was a problem as Tatsu is not ready yet to lead a race on his own and as a matter of fact the chasing group swallows him after a couple of laps. Martin acted as a good reference for Tatsu and when he crashed Tatsu was not able to keep the same pace. However, riding prudently prevents Suzuki from being involved in the big crashes which happens during the last laps of the race and this allows him to finish his race in a good fifth position. Tatsu still needs to make a small leap forward in order to be among the first in every race.
Our team is really strong and we are all working our best to make the most out of every weekend. I have the feeling that we will soon pick up the results of our efforts and when this happens I will eventually abandon this worry that lays inside me. Antonelli will be fit to ride in Assen. In the meantime I keep looking for sponsors for our next-year MotoE team. Stay tuned!
-PaoloSic58-