Niccolò Bulega (Team Federal Oil Gresini) – the former Valentino Rossi protégé, unlike his teammate Di Giannantonio, had to cope with a bad start to the season. After his 7th place in the World Championship for Sky Racing VR46 in 2016 in his first Moto3 season, the 21-year-old from Montecchio Emilia (between the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia) has never made it into the top ten since then. His team-mate Fabio, on the other hand, is currently fifth in the World Cup in a promising position.

The drivers from Team Gresini before the 2nd European race

Fabio Di Giannantonio: „Jerez de la Frontera is a track that I’ve always been fast on. Certainly I can be excellent there if we can put ourselves in the right conditions. The goal is to get back near the top. If we are to achieve this, we need to work well and stay charged at home and on the road. I think we have everything it takes. “

Nicolò Bulega: „The Circuito de Jerez is a special track for me and I have great memories there. Of course, I will never forget my first pole position and my first podium. I can say that it’s a cheap route for me. This has to be our new starting point in order to leave these first three Grand Prix behind and finally get our season off to a good start. I was quick, even though the brakes didn’t go as planned at Portimao, but I’m sure we’re ready for the Spanish GP.”

More driver opinions before the 4th lap in Andalusia

Lorenzo Baldassarri (MV Agusta Forward Racing): “In Portugal we had a race where it was important to finish. We did it, and it was even better that we landed in the points. It was great from that point of view because I had a nice fight with another driver over the last few laps, and it was satisfying. I only have 2 championship points, but I also have confidence and important dates for the next races. From here we don’t give up and keep walking. We know this has not been an easy track for our aerodynamics, but the next few races will be on tracks that are less difficult for us and I hope this gives us the opportunity to work better and get good results.” (the editors: The multiple GP winner from Italy is one of the biggest Moto2 pilots in the field and also drives for a team that, like the NTS and Speed Up drivers, competes against a real superiority of competitors with Kalex chassis, with Speed Up below the Name of Boscoscuro).

Lorenzo Baldassarri (MV Agusta Forward Racing) in front of Tom Lüthi (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) – the man from San Severino Marche in the southwest of the Italian coastal city of Ancona, the 5-time GP winner, made it into the points at the Autodromo do Algarve, in contrast to the Swiss. Despite being 17th after the race, the latter stated that he was satisfied, which not all of his fans understand.

Marcel Schrötter: „Portimão was an exciting but difficult race at the same time. I realized early on that I wouldn’t really have the chance to go noticeably faster. In some corners I struggled right from the start. Sometimes it was the front tire, for example I always lost a lot of time in the penultimate corner. In the race, the feeling about the tires wasn’t like in the previous sessions. It was difficult to drive consistently and cleanly. Cameron Beaubier narrowly escaped a crash several times before me, which made me cautious because I was very close to him and often thought that was it. But that kept me losing a lot of time. It was an extreme fight. In the end, it’s disappointing for me because it felt like I had better pace than some surrounding drivers. A single-digit result would have been nice, but I was simply not fast enough in Portugal for more. Still, the race was neat. I fought to win within the group and was able to leave at least one opponent behind me. Despite all that, it was a lot of fun, even if I naturally hoped for more, and now I’m looking forward to the first race in Spain.”

Our photo of Circuito de Jerez with a view of turn 2 and in the background to the right of the first turn. On the left of the picture you can just see the “fate curve” of Repsol Honda drivers Mick Doohan and Marc Marquez. The former had to end his career after a violent fall during Friday training in 1999 due to a leg injury and the latter had a broken upper arm after a highsider. The biggest problem afterwards was that he was driving again only 4 days after the operation, which subsequently led to a 9-month history of injuries. According to the racing doctors, however, he has been fit again since Portugal, so there should be no more excuses.

What can teams, drivers and fans expect in Jerez

The latter will have to watch it on TV because it will be the third ghost race in a row to anticipate this. As for drivers and teams, as Baldassari put it aptly, it’s a completely different route than the first two on the calendar. The start-finish straight is comparatively short at 607 meters compared to Losail (1068 m) and Portugal (969 m). It has a very special layout with two almost 180 degree curves and is almost at ground level compared to the Autodromo do Algarve mountain and valley course. As far as the weather is concerned, the forecast has improved significantly compared to a few days ago, to the relief of all those involved. Instead of rain for the whole weekend, it should be between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius and at most a little damp on Friday.

World Championship intermediate result in all classes

From left to right the World Championship stand of MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 with some names that one would not have expected so far ahead before the start of the season, but supposed favorites very far behind.

Moto2 Team World Championship – Team Red Bull Ajo lonely at the top

Schedule and TV program Jerez Grand Prix

At the time of our publication there was a bug on the official MotoGP website and the Q1 of Moto2 was given as 25 minutes, which is of course wrong. This has of course already been corrected in our timetable.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).