The Andalusian Grand Prix was a lonely race for Bo Bendsneyder. Not only because he was the only rider of NTS RW Racing GP, after Jesko Raffin had to sign out with signs of overheating. The race itself was also a somewhat lonely affair for Bendsneyder, who crossed the finish line in nineteenth.
The heat in Jerez once again was cruel to both man and machine. At the end of the warm-up, Jesko Raffin suffered from overheating. On the advice of the medical staff, NTS RW Racing GP therefore decided not to let the Swiss start. “Jerez in pretty harsh on us, but safety and health are paramount,” said NTS RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen.
Bo Bendsneyder was thus the only rider on the grid, in 24th place. It was clear that a good result would be difficult in the heat – the track temperature had already risen to 53 degrees Celsius at the start of the Moto2 race. Staying upright was the first goal, knowing that crashing on that hot asphalt happens easily, as happened to Bendsneyder last week. That also turned out to be the case: nine riders did not reach the finish line of the Moto2 race. Partly thanks to those many crashes, Bendsneyder was able to slowly but surely climb to nineteenth place.
Bo Bendsneyder: “Under these warm conditions we never looked good. So we knew beforehand that it would be difficult, but I gave everything. Never giving up is the most important thing in these hard times. We will continue to fight and hope that more will be in store in Brno in two weeks.”
Race results:
Pos | Rider | Team | Time / Gap |
1 | Enea BASTIANINI | Italtrans Racing Team | 39’23.922 |
2 | Luca MARINI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 2.153 |
3 | Marco BEZZECCHI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 3.243 |
4 | Sam LOWES | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 3.817 |
5 | Aron CANET | Openbank Aspar Team Moto2 | 9.155 |
6 | Jorge MARTIN | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 11.988 |
7 | Thomas LUTHI | Liqui Moly Intact GP | 13.857 |
8 | Xavi VIERGE | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 19.590 |
9 | Stefano MANZI | MV Agusta Forward Racing | 20.199 |
10 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Liqui Moly Intact GP | 20.262 |
11 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 20.447 |
12 | Nicolo BULEGA | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 21.464 |
13 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 24.804 |
14 | Remy GARDNER | Onexox TKKR SAG Team | 26.370 |
15 | Marcos RAMIREZ | Tennor American Racing | 27.018 |
16 | Edgar PONS | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 27.126 |
17 | Joe ROBERTS | Tennor American Racing | 30.228 |
18 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 30.895 |
19 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS RW Racing GP | 41.678 |
20 | Andi Farid IZDIHAR | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 41.793 |
Not Classified | |||
Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Flexbox HP 40 | 3 Laps | |
Simone CORSI | MV Agusta Forward Racing | 4 Laps | |
Hafizh SYAHRIN | Openbank Aspar Team Moto2 | 11 Laps | |
Jorge NAVARRO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 14 Laps | |
Somkiat CHANTRA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 18 Laps | |
Hector GARZO | Flexbox HP 40 | 19 Laps | |
Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | Italtrans Racing Team | 19 Laps | |
Kasma DANIEL | Onexox TKKR SAG Team | 20 Laps | |
Jake DIXON | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 21 Laps |
Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com