Ángel Piqueras takes maiden Moto3 victory at Misano

3 months ago

Le0pard Racing completes the San Marino Grand Prix with a ride for the books from Ángel Piqueras, who, despite being penalised with a Double Long Lap, performed a great comeback from 17th position to take his first ever Moto3 victory:

Sunday got underway at Misano under cloudy skies, with Le0pard Racing starting today’s race from the second and third rows of the grid, with Ángel Piqueras in the 4th spot and Adrián Fernández in the 8th.
On a great start to the race, Ángel Piqueras pushed to take the lead coming from 4th, while Adrián Fernández remained around his starting position. When the Spaniard was in 9th place, he received a Double Long Lap Penalty due to jumping the start.
When Ángel Piqueras and Adrián Fernández had completed their penalties, they were in 17th and 21st place respectively, both starting their way up soon.
After setting the fastest lap and putting in a blistering race pace, 11 laps to go, Ángel Piqueras had already climbed up to 7th. Adrián Fernández, for his part, was 18th.
Towards the final stages of the race, both Le0pard riders continued to push, recovering the gap to the riders in front respectively.
With 3 laps to go, Ángel Piqueras overtook for 6th, and then soon for 4th, reaching the podium positions in the blink of an eye. The Spaniard was 3rd at the beginning of the last lap, fighting tooth and nail to hit the front, crossing the finish line in 1st position to take his maiden Moto3 victory.
Adrián Fernández was also able to move up some positions, overtaking to finish today’s race in 13th place.
We’ll be back in Misano in two weeks time!

“A comeback race is always fun. I wanted to take the lead at the beginning of the race so that I could do the Double Long Lap quickly and lose as little time as possible. When I was in 17th place, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make up that many positions, but then I started to push and realised that I had the pace. When I caught the leading group towards the end of the race, I gave it my all. There was no way I couldn’t make it this time. I want to thank the team for their incredible job, helping me to achieve my maiden Moto3 victory!”

Ángel Piqueras

1st

“It wasn’t the race we expected due to the penalty I received at the beginning of the race. The team is working really hard every day, and it’s a pity that the result doesn’t reflect it. In the end, it became another learning race, accumulating kilometres and knowledge looking ahead to the second race here in two weeks time”