The CarXpert PrüstelGP Team finished the race in Portimao on 10th respectively 21st place – the final race of the season will take place next weekend in Valencia, Spain.
In Portimao, Portugal, the second last race of the 2021 season was held today, Sunday. The German CarXpert PrüstelGP team experienced two mixed opening days, where the training sessions were well used, but the results were not fully satisfying for the riders. Filip Salac nevertheless achieved ninth place on the grid after the challenging training sessions. Right at the start, however, the Czech dropped back a few places and had to fight not to lose touch with the riders in front and to get back to the top 10 positions. Salac just managed to do so on the last lap – he finished the race in P11 and, due to the disqualification of another rider, he finally finished tenth in the Algarve Grand Prix.
For Ryusei Yamanaka, today’s race did not go as he and the team had hoped. The Japanese rider did not quite manage the fast start he was aiming for and from the fourth lap onwards his feeling for the rear wheel became worse lap after lap. With decreasing grip, Yamanaka fought his way to the chequered flag over the 21 race laps and ended up in 21st place.
The season finale of the MotoGP World Championship, the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, will take place already next week, from November 12-14.
Filip Salac (10th | 38’10.930):
“Not an easy day for us. We tested the race tire again in warm up, with which I had a very good feeling. Then we started the race from P9 – after a few laps I had problems with the clutch, but they disappeared again after a short time. I then managed to get close to the front group, but due to a riding mistake I lost the connection again. That was really a special race for me – I did my best and with the top 10 place the result is not that bad for us. But now I’m looking forward to the race in Valencia, because this track suits me very well.”
Ryusei Yamanaka (21st | 38’34.522):
“I started from P24 today. The goal was actually to make up a few places right at the start. But unfortunately the start didn’t go as well as I hoped, and I fell back more and more after the start and also during the race. Throughout the race I didn’t have a good feeling for the tires, which was strange because we were using the same tires as most of the other riders and it seems that the grip problems occurred with me only. We have to look closer into that now to be ready for the last race next week in Valencia.”
Pictures by © [2021] RLekl
