Moreira delivers points in Sprint Race at the Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang International CircuitPro Honda LCR Honda rider Diogo Moreira scored valuable World Championship points and took top Honda honours in a dramatic Sprint Race at the Sepang International Circuit.
Following a challenging qualifying session in the morning that saw the Brazilian qualify 14th, the MotoGP rookie made a strong start and quickly began making up ground. Even with light rainfall making the circuit slippery in places, Moreira never lost concentration or control of his Honda RC213V and crossed the line in eighth place, scoring two valuable championship points.
Johann Zarco finished the Sprint Race less than a second behind his teammate in tenth position after qualifying eighth following a solid qualifying effort that saw the Frenchman progress through Q1 and claim top Honda honours in the top-12 shootout. The Castrol Honda LCR rider made a decent start but lost ground as the rain began to fall and the conditions became more difficult.
Honda HRC Castrol's Luca Marini put in a respectable lap time in Q1, missing the top two by less than a tenth of a second. Starting from 13th on the grid, the Italian was able to gain a handful of places early on. However, Marini slowly started to lose pace as the ten-lap Sprint progressed while he continued to recover from an energy-sapping virus, but by opting to remain on slicks throughout the race, he earned 13th place at the finish.
Marini's teammate, Joan Mir, enjoyed a positive outing in Q2, lining up 11th and looking primed and ready for his first race start since the San Marino GP. The former World Champion made a good launch and kept his nose clean in the opening phases of the race. As the rain began to fall, Mir was one of the first riders to come into the pits to change to wets, opting to gamble in uncertain conditions with the lead group having already escaped. The rain would unfortunately arrive on the cool-down lap after the chequered flag, and Mir would bring home his machine in 16th place.
The 19th round of the MotoGP World Championship will start at 15:00 local time and will see Luca Marini make his 200th Grand Prix start.
“It was a really good race! I enjoyed it a lot. It started raining a little after the first few laps, but I still managed to push. I made a mistake early on and almost crashed, but luckily I saved it. After that, I got back into my rhythm and managed to keep a strong pace. We did a great job today! Let’s see what we can do tomorrow!”
“It was a really good race! I enjoyed it a lot. It started raining a little after the first few laps, but I still managed to push. I made a mistake early on and almost crashed, but luckily I saved it. After that, I got back into my rhythm and managed to keep a strong pace. We did a great job today! Let’s see what we can do tomorrow!”
“I’m happy with today. Qualifying was positive, we had good speed and secured a solid eighth place on the grid for both races. I was feeling quite good in the Sprint, but when the rain started, I regretted not taking more risks earlier on. Once we had to slow down because of the conditions, overtaking became more difficult. In the end, I finished 10th, just missing out on the points. Hopefully, we can try something during Warm Up to find a better balance for tomorrow’s race. Let’s see what we can do!”
“I’m happy with today. Qualifying was positive, we had good speed and secured a solid eighth place on the grid for both races. I was feeling quite good in the Sprint, but when the rain started, I regretted not taking more risks earlier on. Once we had to slow down because of the conditions, overtaking became more difficult. In the end, I finished 10th, just missing out on the points. Hopefully, we can try something during Warm Up to find a better balance for tomorrow’s race. Let’s see what we can do!”
“The Sprint took a lot out of me on the physical side, and I have a lot less energy than I was expecting. The feeling with the bike was good and we have been close to all the other Honda riders. We are still missing something in Qualifying because the other riders and brands are able to make a step. I need to spend this evening resting to recover as much as possible for Sunday because it will be a hard race physically, wet or dry.”
“The Sprint took a lot out of me on the physical side, and I have a lot less energy than I was expecting. The feeling with the bike was good and we have been close to all the other Honda riders. We are still missing something in Qualifying because the other riders and brands are able to make a step. I need to spend this evening resting to recover as much as possible for Sunday because it will be a hard race physically, wet or dry.”
“Today was a day to gamble! I was expecting it to rain a little bit more, but this arrived only after we finished. It can happen and, in our position, the choice to come in early did not change the overall result by a massive margin. A good lesson for tomorrow that the tarmac can take a lot more rain before it really gets wet, so this is a positive. Otherwise, it has been a productive day, taking everything step by step and getting back into the speed of MotoGP. I missed a little bit into Turn 1 I think and we lost some of the early places we made from a really good start.”
“Today was a day to gamble! I was expecting it to rain a little bit more, but this arrived only after we finished. It can happen and, in our position, the choice to come in early did not change the overall result by a massive margin. A good lesson for tomorrow that the tarmac can take a lot more rain before it really gets wet, so this is a positive. Otherwise, it has been a productive day, taking everything step by step and getting back into the speed of MotoGP. I missed a little bit into Turn 1 I think and we lost some of the early places we made from a really good start.”
