Login | Password dimenticata? | Registrati

GP of Catalonia: third podium of season for Segio Gadea

In MotoGP

15 giugno 2009

GP of Catalonia: third podium of season for Segio Gadea

An exciting race at Montmeló opened the Catalonia Grand Prix Sunday, as the 125cc riders engaged in a thrilling fight for dominance in northeast Spain. The eventual winner of the race was Andrea Iannone, but he benefitted from a lot of luck in the fight for the victory.

Julián Simón had led for the majority of the race, battling with his Italian rival after starting on pole. After establishing an advantage, the Spaniard looked to have achieved a home win in front of the Barcelona fans, but a nightmare scenario saw the poleman begin his celebrations prematurely. He had miscalculated the laps remaining, and still had one more to perform as he crossed the line. Iannone escaped, with Simón left trying to salvage something from the race.

After regathering his thoughts, Simón needed to fight with teammate Sergio Gadea for the final podium spot. The second Bancaja rider had made his way up to the chasing group, and overtook a string of riders as the rostrum came into sight. He needed a video finish to confirm his podium though, as Simón nearly took third on the line.

Bradley Smith concluded a difficult weekend by taking valuable championship points, not risking a fall when he saw the leader move out of his reach. He fought with Stefan Bradl for a valuable eight points and, although he lost the leadership of the series to Simón, is still well placed in the standings.

3rd Sergio Gadea: "I'm very happy with this result, and for placing at the top during all of the practice sessions, as it shows that things are going well. This year we are back to having fun, and I'm feeling like a kid again on the bike. The race was hard, and when I had eight laps left I was ready to give up, but I saw that the podium places were close so I tried to take off. We were lacking about two tenths in the chase for the leaders, so I had to really push to get on the rostrum. The last lap was crazy, and I really think that Julian deserved to be on the podium. In the end it was very close. I feel bad about it, because he did a good race and just made an error. I am happy with my result though, as I gave it my all."

4th Julián Simón: "It has been a pity, because we were watching the pace on every lap in order to take victory, and in the previous lap I saw L1 on the control tower, so I thought that the race was over. The mechanics put +0.6 on the board ahead of Iannone, and when I didn't see the chequered flag I didn't know what had happened. I want to apologise to my team, because they did an impeccable job over the weekend. It leaves a bittersweet taste, but the positive thing is that we are still leading the championship, we did a great race and we are on the right track. We are picking up very good results, and we are very consistent, so that will stick with me. We have seen a strong Julito, the fans had fun and we can learn from this mistake just as we did after Jerez."