Kent takes personal best French Grand Prix finish

18/05/2014

Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider takes further 3 points for World Championship tally, whilst Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo’s Niklas Ajo DNFs after a crash.

DG2_9905

The fifth race of the Moto3 World Championship season took place on a sunny Sunday at Le Mans. After fighting as part of the third group in the race, Danny Kent crossed the line in 13th place. Garage-mate Niklas Ajo was unable to complete the contest, crashing out three laps from the end.

With this result, Kent claimed his best finish to date at Le Mans, where last year he placed 15th in the Moto2 class. Starting from the fourth row of the grid, the Briton was part of the third group for a large spell in the race, fighting for 14th. He concluded the contest second in the pack, alongside Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder. The Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider added a further 3 points to his haul for the season, and is now tenth in the Moto3 standings with 26.

Niklas Ajo was unable to take the chequered flag to cap a strong weekend. The Finn took off from fifth on the grid, but a lack of feeling on the straights prevented him from staying with the lead group. The Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo rider dropped down to eleventh, along with Zulfahmi Khairuddin. Three laps from the end, on the exit of the chicane, he suffered a crash which ended his day.

The next round of the Moto3 World Championship takes place at Mugello on June 1st, with the Italian Grand Prix.

Results – Race
1. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 41:30.582
2. Alex Rins (Honda) +0.095
3. Isaac Viñales (KTM) +0.230
4. Francesco Bagnaia (KTM) +0.487
5. Alex Marquez (Honda) +0.931
13. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) +14.644
DNF – Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo)

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2014
1. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 104 points
2. Romano Fenati (KTM) 74 points
3. Efren Vazquez (Honda) 72 points
4. Alex Rins (Honda) 71 points
5. Alex Marquez (Honda) 60 points
10. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 26 points
15. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 16 points

 

Danny Kent >> Audio (only for radio use)

“We suffered a lot today, above all on the straights where I was losing a lot of places. On the corners, however, I was able to keep up a good pace without problems. I can’t be fighting so far down the field, with newcomers to the World Championship. I need to demand more of myself and be further up the field. We need to find solutions to our braking issues and find more speed. This definitely was not the weekend that we were expecting, put we need to keep pushing and giving our all in order to do better at the next race.”

Niklas Ajo >> Audio (only for radio use)

“To tell the truth, I felt comfortable in the first group, but I could not stay there, because on the straight I was losing positions throughout the race and could not keep up with the frontrunners there. I tried to make up time on the corners to counter this. Later on I got behind Zulfahmi Khairuddin and I felt comfortable riding behind him, but I had to push hard on corner exits to catch him on the straights. At the exit of the chicane I went past the limit and crashed. It’s a little frustrating because we did very well in practice. Now we have to work hard to solve our issues from today, and think about Mugello.”

Partners



MotoE