DNF in France for Bendsneyder

The Moto2 race of the Grand Prix of France was one to quickly forget for NTS RW Racing GP. Both riders had to write a DNF (Did Not Finish) behind their name. Bo Bendsneyder entered the pits with a rear tire worn down to the wire. A lap later Steven Odendaal crashed hard and dislocated his knee. The result was of course a major disappointment for the entire team, and in particular for the riders themselves. “It’s a shame it ends this way, because we’ve seen many positive things this weekend,” said NTS RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen. “In this sport, everything has to fall just right and if that goes against you, you are left empty-handed.” Among the positive points, Janssen includes the seventh place of Bendsneyder in the warm-up on Sunday morning and his direct qualification for Q2, the fastest time of Odendaal in the wet FP3 and his time in qualifying that could have been seventh if it were not that a few riders were slightly faster in Q1. Due to the wet circumstances on Saturday, Bendsneyder could not really try the hard rear tire, but he had good results with the soft compound and that tire had held up well for nineteen laps. That is why, and because of the cool temperature, Bendsneyder and his crew took the gamble to start the race on the softer compound. Odendaal did choose the harder tire. With that he got away well from the start. The South African advanced to seventeenth place, but from that position he crashed in turn 10 of the fourteenth lap. In the crash Odendaal dislocated his knee. He therefore misses at least the Fan Day of NTS RW Racing GP on Tuesday at the TT Circuit in Assen.

Bo Bendsneyder (DNF): “I had done good lap times in the practice sessions with the softer rear tire and that tire was still good even after nineteen laps. We knew that the last five laps of the race could be difficult, but it was worth the gamble. Unfortunately, this tire behaved very differently: after two or three laps it was gone already. In the turns I bounced and slid in all directions and it only got worse. I couldn’t ride it, so I came in. Very unfortunate, because it was quite a good weekend. I have learned a lot, including in wet conditions, and we have shown some quite nice things.”

Race results:

Pos Rider Team Time / Gap
1 Alex MARQUEZ EG 0,0 Marc VDS 40’36.428
2 Jorge NAVARRO Lightech Speed Up 1.119
3 Augusto FERNANDEZ FLEXBOX HP 40 1.800
4 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Ajo 6.015
5 Xavi VIERGE EG 0,0 Marc VDS 7.057
6 Thomas LUTHI Dynavolt Intact GP 9.401
7 Enea BASTIANINI Italtrans Racing Team 10.095
8 Marcel SCHROTTER Dynavolt Intact GP 10.475
9 Iker LECUONA American Racing KTM 11.246
10 Nicolo BULEGA SKY Racing Team VR46 17.112
11 Tetsuta NAGASHIMA ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team 18.537
12 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Lightech Speed Up 19.817
13 Luca MARINI SKY Racing Team VR46 27.815
14 Joe ROBERTS American Racing KTM 27.888
15 Stefano MANZI MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward 49.139
16 Lukas TULOVIC Kiefer Racing 50.800
17 Jake DIXON Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team 51.688
18 Marco BEZZECCHI Red Bull KTM Tech 3 53.223
19 Philipp OETTL Red Bull KTM Tech 3 +1’00.859
20 Jorge MARTIN Red Bull KTM Ajo +1’03.717
Not Classified
Dominique AEGERTER MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward 1 Lap
Dimas EKKY PRATAMA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 4 Laps
Xavi CARDELUS Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team 5 Laps
Remy GARDNER ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team 12 Laps
Steven ODENDAAL NTS RW Racing GP 13 Laps
Bo BENDSNEYDER NTS RW Racing GP 13 Laps
Simone CORSI Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 16 Laps
Sam LOWES Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 17 Laps
Somkiat CHANTRA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 17 Laps
Lorenzo BALDASSARRI FLEXBOX HP 40 24 Laps
Mattia PASINI Petronas Sprinta Racing 24 Laps
Andrea LOCATELLI Italtrans Racing Team 0 Lap

Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com

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