Moto3 Qatar J3: Ayumu Sasaki, lucky then unlucky…

“Ill-gotten wealth never benefits” is certainly a maxim far too strong to apply to the situation, but it is certain that Ayumu Sasaki first benefited from the favors of luck before it cruelly betrayed him during the Grand Prix in Qatar!

Due to a series of penalties imposed on different drivers on the starting grid, the order of the grid was disrupted just before the race: Izan Guevara lost in particular the pole position acquired during qualifying, which the Japanese driver took advantage of to recover it.

From now on under the colors of the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, the native of Yokosuka seized this little helping hand from destiny to take the holeshot as soon as the red lights went out, before gradually managing to escape in front of a peloton that was nevertheless just as combative than motivated.

The gap built on the handlebars of the #71 Husqvarna amounted to more than 3 seconds on the 10th lap, and we sincerely thought that the rest was just a formality for the Japanese, largely forgetting the technical problems encountered on the Friday and the cancellation of his best time in FP3 on Saturday.
fabio quartararo he himself went there with his encouragement to support his friend.

Alas, competition can be as cruel as it is enjoyable, and that was the case this Sunday for Ayumu Sasaki. Suffering a violent highside in a turn, the 21-year-old driver broke a fastener on the left side of his fairing, causing it to hang miserably. The pilot of Max Biaggi was then picked up by the whole peloton before having to give up, with the very bitter taste of bad luck in his mouth after his superb performance.

Ayumu Sasaki : “II am very disappointed. The team did a fantastic job and I did a great job. I felt good on the bike and enjoyed every moment until the ninth lap. The first ten laps went by so quickly and I was living a dream, because being first in a Grand Prix is ​​always a good feeling. I was calm, calm, and then we had some problems with the bike, but it wasn't anyone's fault. It was an unfortunate thing that happened to us. This week we were perhaps a bit unlucky because it followed Friday, but even then it wasn't my fault or the team's fault. I'm sorry for the team and for me. I think we did a fantastic job. I can't be sure, but I think we were going to win the race and that's a positive thing. We have 20 races to do and we have 20 races where we can do the exact same thing. We will travel quickly and see what we can do in the next race in Indonesia. »

Max Biaggi : " For us, this race could have ended in a better way. It was a great performance from Sasaki, but we're obviously disappointed with how it ended. We have had some issues, which we are still evaluating. These results are a good confidence booster, because we need to be aware that we can do it again. We had a problem this time, but we will definitely try to get a good result in the next race. »