Young Alonso López, 16, had an incredible race on Sunday in Jerez, and almost reached the first podium of his career in just four races in Moto3. A sanction unfortunately made him finish fourth, but the Spanish driver showed great things.
Arrived this year from CEV Moto3 in the Estrella Galicia 0,0 team, Alonso lopez made a very good start to the season, often being the best rookie. Having left too hastily for Qatar, he had fallen in the race, and had declared in a very mature manner that he would not be caught again. Two weeks later, he had an incredible race in Argentina, fighting in the leading group before finishing sixth.
The weekend in Texas was then more complicated. Known to be very technical, this circuit did not suit the young López who finished seventeenth. He nevertheless arrived very optimistic at the Jerez Grand Prix, because for the first time since the start of the year, he knew the circuit on which he was going to race.
His weekend got off to a bad start, however, with 27th place in FP1 and 29th place in FP2. But the rookie did not give up, and moved up to 15th in FP3, before qualifying in a brilliant sixth place, his best qualification so far, having been unable to do better than 21st in Argentina.
After a very good start, he remained in the leading group, going so far as to set the fastest lap in the race! But a contact with Philipp Oettl caused him to widen at the start of the race, and start eighteenth again. Never mind, López climbed back calmly to return to the chasing group at the end of the race. With his teammate's mistake and the collective fall caused, he found himself fighting for the podium.
Crossing the finish line in third position, he thought he had scored the first podium of his career after just four races, but was penalized for going beyond the limits of the track on several occasions. Finishing fourth, he left the podium to his compatriot Marcos Ramírez.
Although disappointed to have been virtually on this podium without being able to celebrate it, the Spanish driver showed great things this weekend, and should soon be talked about again. When he returned to the box, he was still very happy: “It was, without a doubt, the best race of my life. I reached my goal of third place, and in front of the best fans in the world. Now I'm going to come down from my cloud and think about Le Mans. »
