One year ago, at that time, people were singing on their balcony, we used to write #EverythingIsGonnaBeAlright and we thought it wouldn’t have lasted that long. And now, after one year that seemed a lifetime, we’re still wobbling between red and dark-orange zones and we, the once allowed to travel, that have the fortune to go on with our life living our passion, we have the moral duty to send these emotions into your houses and to make you live emotional and crazy Sundays. To give you back even just a little piece of normality, we will try our best to make the speakers say “standing ovation for this amazing podium”.
We left for Qatar without our most experienced rider, a little bit undertone, but with a big hope for the pcr result of Tatsuki the following Monday, which was our last chance to have him on the grid of the first race. Luckily everything went perfectly, Tatsuki became negative and on Wednesday he was already flying off to Doha. On Sunday, the starting grid was exactly the opposite of 2020, when Tatsuki started from the pole.
He arrived in Qatar out of shape, tired, exhausted and without the test. He was almost asymptomatic, but when the virus left his body it took away his energy. I thought he wouldn’t have been able to finish the race, but instead with all his willpower he could make it, closing the race in 8th position. We are all so happy, even if I personally think that a little bit more could have been done, at least one or two positions, but anyway i’m happy, maybe he took the right choice, deciding not to risk so much. Anyway, to see a Tatsuki who fights that hard it’s amazing, he would have never done it a few years ago, and that means we made a good job with him.
Lorenzo Fellon, our 16 years old rookie, wasn’t so happy with his resilt; he comes from one year of ETC and one of CEV and in this world championship where the level is so high, even finishing the race means he did a good job with his first race. He has all the right numbers, a great potential we can work on, he just needs to listen and not to get underpressure, we can see he is “hungry”.
The race was difficult, with a crazy wind and we’ve been so lucky that none of our riders have been involved in others crashes, and there have been a lot. It’s a classic of the first GP, the new entries, they are so absorbed into their wish to have it all and immediately, they want to rule the world, they need time to understand that a race is long and a mistake in the beginning can be solved with calm a few laps later.
I want to thank Josito Garcia, our main rider in the CEV – Moto3, and also our official backup rider, who came here in Qatar to replace Tatsuki but in the end he just did the spectator; last year he debuted here replacing Antonelli too. Thanks also to Carmelo Ezpeleta, who made all this happen: he offered to all of the MotoGP family the possibility to get vaccinated. I took the opportunity and I’m happy about it, even if it means we should stay here a little longer waiting for the second dose. Here, in this kind of home-prison with sand, sea, beachvolley fields and gates. We are in a hotel and we are vaccinated, yes, but we have access to just a few zones, they want to keep us far away from their people to avoid being infected. That’s why hospitals here are not in crisis. In this sort of forced holiday, we are waiting for Friday to get back on track for the second round of Doha.
This was the first race without Fausto, from the first year of world championship with Marco back to 2002, Fauso has always been there, first as a rider, then as an entrepreneur. First as Team manager, then as business partner and friend. Those have been very full years, intense, beautiful and we shared some terrible experiences and not to have him here because of this damned virus, which doesn’t have any effect on someone but kills someone else, this is not fair. Goodbye Fausto, I will never forget that we started this adventure together.
-PaoloSic58-