Fermín Aldeguer delivered a very solid sprint race in Portugal, to the detriment of Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia.
Fermín Aldeguer has been gaining momentum since yesterday and finished the sprint race in style. However, The Spanish rookie arrived at the Portimão circuit with some apprehension.fearing the consequences of the predicted rain on such an impressive track. Ultimately, the weather didn't spoil the fun too much and Aldeguer managed to automatically advance to Q2 yesterday.
On Saturday, he dominated FP2 before a slightly disappointing qualifying session, which remains his weak point. Starting 11th on the grid, he got a good start and spent half the race in tenth position before beginning to attack. After overtaking Pol Espargaró, he squeezed through a tiny gap to pass Brad Binder on the penultimate lap. He then looked for an opening on Johann Zarco and only found one in the final corner of the last lap.
As the Frenchman attempted to overtake Francesco Bagnaia, the Gresini driver dived in to pass both drivers in one fell swoop and beat them to the finish line. A solid performance that allowed him to secure sixth place and hope for a strong race tomorrow, despite the remaining question mark over tire wear.
“Honestly, I’m very happy with the sprint race. Actually, I braked too early in the first corner and immediately lost the advantage I had built up. As the laps went by, I felt better and better. I managed to be competitive both in overtaking and race pace, and when I had a bit of a lead, I easily did 1’38s. That’s very encouraging for tomorrow. I think the last lap was the most fun of the whole race.”, did he declare.
“I’d been trying to overtake Zarco and Bagnaia since the previous lap, but Zarco was trying to pass Bagnaia and I didn’t have enough room to get past. At the penultimate corner, Zarco tried to overtake Pecco, but he made a mistake and left a small gap, then came back at full speed. The last corner is one of my strong points. I managed to get up to speed and overtook him. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually overtaken him because when I looked to the left, I saw Zarco speeding away. I didn’t know how it ended, but hey, it was a fun little battle.”
"Clearly, I think our strong point this weekend was our race pace," he continued. "Whether it's with the soft or medium tire, tomorrow we shouldn't attack like crazy in the first few laps, but try to overtake without wearing out the tires too much, and see where we stand."
Results of the sprint race of the Portuguese Grand Prix :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
