Esteve Rabat had a complicated debut in MotoGP in 2016 and 2017. Arriving this year in the Reale Avintia Racing team, the Spanish rider seems to have had a click and is having an excellent start to the 2018 season, as he proved again at the Grand Austin Price.
Qualified sixteenth in Qatar, Tito Rabat had moved up to eleventh place, and this result boded well for his season. Impressive during qualifying in Argentina, he started from fourth place in the race to finish in seventh position, the best result of his MotoGP career.
This weekend in Austin was a little complicated, particularly due to the weather conditions: 14th in FP1, 12th in FP2, 15th in FP3 and 21st in FP4. Qualified in thirteenth position, Tito made a strong comeback to finish the race in eighth place, his second best result: “The race was a lot of fun. At first I had a hard time passing (Bradley) Smith, but then I had fun riding with Lorenzo, Rins and Miller. In the end I had a good fight with Jack and managed to overtake him on the last lap. »
This result could have been completely different if the choice of tires had not been the right one. Rabat and his team knew how to make the right decisions, and the Spaniard says he is satisfied with this Grand Prix as a whole: “We had a very good weekend given that it was complicated and we were only able to drive in good conditions in FP2. We took a risk with the choice of tires for the race and it paid off. »
Number 53 is delighted with his start to the season, which makes him very optimistic for the future: “I am happy with the first three races we have done, with the work the team is doing and with my Ducati. Thanks to this result I will arrive at Jerez motivated. »
