First points for Danny Kent and Husqvarna
23/03/2014Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider places thirteenth in first race of the year in Qatar, claiming first 3 points of the season. Niklas Ajo finishes twenty-sixth after suffering a crash.
The Moto3 World Championship officially got underway at the Losail Circuit on Sunday night, with Husqvarna making their debut appearance in the class. Danny Kent gave the manufacturer its first points in the overall standings of the World Championship, after crossing the finish line in thirteenth place. Fellow Husqvarna rider Niklas Ajo had an unfortunate race, crashing on Lap 5 and placing 26th after remounting.
Red Bull Ajo Husqvarna and Danny Kent debuted together in an intense race. Starting from the second row, the Briton made a great start to gain two places on the opening corners and complete Lap 1 in fifth. After keeping up with the second group in the early going -consisting of nine riders- he would fall back into the fourth group as the race progressed. He crossed the line in thirteenth at the end of the 18-lap contest.
Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo’s Niklas Ajo was unable to claim points, despite latching onto the second group on the opening laps. A crash on Lap 5 ruled out any chance of finishing inside the Top 15, but the Finn picked up his Husqvarna machine, remounted, took it back to the pits and went back out to put further kilometres on the clock. He would eventually place 26th, in a race won by Jack Miller.
The second race of the year will be held in three weeks time in Austin -the first of two rounds held in the United States. The venue will be the Circuit of the Americas, the date April 13th, and it will be the second time that Danny Kent and Niklas Ajo will have ridden there.
Results – Race
1. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 38:05.810
2. Alex Marquez (Honda) +0.233
3. Efren Vazquez (Honda) +0.280
4. Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) +0.295
5. Alex Rins (Honda) +0.369
13. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) +11.269
26. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 1 lap
Moto3 World Champhionship Standing 2014
1. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 25 points
2. Alex Marquez (Honda) 20 points
3. Efren Vazquez (Honda) 16 points
4. Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) 13 points
5. Alex Rins (Honda) 11 points
13. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 3 points
Danny Kent – Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo – Audio
“I am very disappointed with today’s result, because we had a good start but I wasn’t aggressive enough to keep up with the group on the following laps. Later on I was clipped by another rider at Turn 1, ran off-track and lost further ground. It was too difficult to get back -especially as I was riding alone. Thankfully this happened at the opening race of the year, and we have a long season ahead. Now we need to analyse things and improve for Austin.”
Niklas Ajo -Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo – Audio
“This weekend has been very difficult for us. From the start I didn’t feel good -neither with my setup nor with my riding. We tried to find better settings, but we couldn’t manage it. In the warmup we made a small improvement, but it was too late. In the race I lost touch with the leading group, because my position on the grid wasn’t great. I tried to latch onto the leading pack, but couldn’t do so. I pushed too hard for that and crashed; it was completely my fault. I apologise to my team because we obviously wanted a better result tonight. However, that’s racing and you have to look ahead -I’m sure that we will be faster at the next race.”
*Audio solely for radio use