Team manager of the Sky Racing VR46 team, Pablo Nieto has this year a high-level quartet with in Moto3 Nicolò Bulega and the Junior World Champion Dennis Foggia, and in Moto2 Francesco Bagnaia and Luca Marini.
During the Jerez tests, the beginner Foggia achieved a brilliant fourth time in the combined ranking, while Open up was ninth. We expected a lot from Nicolo last year, but the lack of competitiveness of the KTMs against the Hondas was an insurmountable handicap.
Nicolo Bulega had suffered a broken ankle following an accident during Friday Moto3 practice at the Valencia GP. He had been involved in an incident with compatriot Niccolo Antonelli at Turn 3 in the final minutes of the second practice, fracturing his right ankle. After a visit to the Valencia hospital center, he was taken to the Nisa Pardo de Aravaca hospital in Madrid to be operated on that evening by Dr Angel Villamor. The operation had been a success. But the injury ended Bulega's season, preventing him from taking part in the final at the weekend and the following week's trials in Valencia on November 20-21. With his best race result of fourth place at Sachsenring last year, Bulega finished in 12th place in the final Moto3 standings, having also taken pole position at last year's Motegi Grand Prix.
In 2017 in Moto2, Luca Marini, the half-brother of Valentino Rossi, could not finish better than fifteenth in the Championship on a Forward Racing Team Kalex. However Francis Bagnaia finished the year in superb fifth position, rookie of the year far ahead Brad Binder et fabio quartararo. Second in qualifying at Le Mans, Bagnaia finished on the podium at Jerez, Le Mans, Germany and Misano, which was exceptional for a beginner.
Bagnaia confirmed during the recent Jerez tests with the second time, while Marini was good seventh. “ We are very happy and satisfied with Pecco and Luca, Nieto affirmed. Their feeling with the bike is very good, which is the most important thing. Pecco did a really good job and focused on his pace for the races. At the moment everything is going very well. It's still too early to talk about the title. But of course Pecco is very strong. Luca impresses me a lot, he works very well. I think he will be very quick.”
All that remains is to hope that the Moto3 riders rise to his level: “Nicolò was unable to ride a motorcycle this winter due to his injury. That's why the first days of testing were very difficult for him, he was still in pain. It got better on the last day. He needs to rebuild his feelings on the bike. Dennis still has a lot of work to do, but everything is going well. We know him from the junior world championships, but it's something else. He must learn and have fun. »
Photos © Sky Racing Team VR46
Source: Speedweek. com
