The German rider was forced to retire after only two laps
The inaugural race of Moto3 FIM CEV took place in Estoril (Portugal) on Tuesday 7th of July on dry conditions. Unfortunately it was not a lucky day for Dirk Geiger, the only German rider on the starting grid, as he was forced to retire due to a crash.
After a great first lap, where Dirk could make up ground until the 21st place, he was involved in a crash with another rider on the second lap. Dirk and his team were expecting a better ending for the weekend, that started with free practice on Saturday and Sunday. On qualifying day, he was able to reach the 27th place of the starting grid. But the most promising result came on Tuesday morning during the warm-up, when he reached the 19th position.
Now Dirk and Cuna de Campeones PrüstelGP are ready to face another race weekend in Portimao (Portugal) already next week. The race is scheduled on Monday 13th July at 2pm (German Time) and can be watched on the official FIM CEV Youtube Channel.
Time schedule Portimao:
Sunday 12/07
QP1 10:35-11:15
QP2 13:40-14:20
Montag 13/07
Warm-up 10:45-11:00
Race 14:00
Dirk Geiger #60, DNF
The first race weekend with my new team Cuna de Campeones PrüstelGP has come to an end. First thing, I want to thank them for the effort and the atmosphere inside the box, I really enjoy working with them. The free practice sessions were already good, with constant improvement at every lap. Then on Monday during the first QP we tried an harder tyre but it didn´t work and I lost a bit of confidence with the bike. In the last part of the qualifying we switched to the softer tyre, but due to some other problems I had to go back to the box immediately. Luckily they fixed the problem but it was just one lap left and I was in a group with slower riders. This kept me motivated for the second qualifying session. The feeling was good but lap times still didn´t come. We tried with new tyres and I wanted to look for a group to follow. The positive aspect was, that I was riding alone in 46 low but I was not very satisfied with the grid position. The warm up instead was really good, as I was faster than in the qualifying and it gave me much confidence for the race. I did a great start in the race, recovering many positions in the first lap, but then in the second lap I crashed in the third corner. I don´t know what happened as I did the same as in the previous lap, I only brake a bit more and I lost the front. Unfortunately it may happen in races, but I am full motivated to come back stronger in Portimao!
Steffen Rüdiger, Crew Chief
The weekend was very demanding already starting from Thursday, because actually everything was new. Dirk has ridden a lot of kilometres and has got familiar with the bike and improved his times . Because of the crash in the FP his whole body hurt a bit. In the first QP he couldn’t convert the performance due to a small technical problem. In the afternoon in QP2 Dirk was able to set faster times due to the high temperatures, but they were not quite enough to get further ahead in the grid. In the Wup he was able to set his personal best time of the WE’s with 1.46.171. Thereupon we were confident for the race, which was quickly finished in Lap2 due to a front wheel slip.
