Ajo Academy rider takes third place at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit on Sunday, after narrowly missing out on the podium in yesterday’s race. Fernandez places sixth and Fellon picks up his first eight points of the season.

The RFME Spanish Championship PreMoto3 series returned to action this weekend at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. The Ajo Academy riders contested two races at the event: One on Saturday and one on Sunday. After finishing fourth yesterday, Barry Baltus took third place today. It was a repeat of his previous podium position at the inaugural round of the year in Valencia. Adrian Fernandez crashed on Saturday, but finished sixth on Sunday. Lorenzo Fellon was twelfth in each of the races.

Starting from fifth position on Saturday, Barry Baltus rode largely by himself in a second group, in pursuit of the three leading riders who had broken away. On Sunday, the Belgian was in the leading pack along with three other riders, and held on for his second podium of the season.

For Adrian Fernandez, the weekend was a bittersweet one. After earning a place on the third row of the grid, he suffered a crash on the third lap on Saturday, losing the front end under breaking at the end of the long straight. Today he had a second chance, taking advantage off it to ride faster than he had all weekend and take a meritorious sixth place.

For Lorenzo Fellon, the two races were quite similar. The Frenchman gained positions early on after starting from sixteenth, picking up his pace and finishing both races in twelfth place. He thus claimed his first 8 points of his rookie season.

After three races, Barry Baltus is third in the overall standings with 45 points. Ajo Academy teammates Fernandez and Fellon are ninth -19 points- and fifteenth -8 points-, respectively. The next race will be held next weekend at the Alcarras Circuit.

Results (Race 1)
1. Adrian Huertas (Mir Racing) 23:53.459
2. Pedro Acosta (Mir Racing) +0.062
3. David Salvador (Mir Racing) +0.144
4. Barry Baltus (Ajo Academy) +2.847
5. Daniel Holgado (BeOn) +12.702
12. Lorenzo Fellon (Ajo Academy) +34.985
DNF. Adrian Fernandez (Ajo Academy)

Results (Race 2)
1. Pedro Acosta (Mir Racing) 23:44.754
2. David Salvador (Mir Racing) +0.286
3. Barry Baltus (Ajo Academy) +1.569
4. Carlos Tatay (BeOn) +9.912
5. Julian Giral (BeOn) +13.237
6. Adrian Fernandez (Ajo Academy) +13.262
12. Lorenzo Fellon (Ajo Academy) +35.847

PreMoto3 Championship Standing
1. Pedro Acosta (Mir Racing) 65 points
2. Adrian Huertas (Mir Racing) 50 points
3. Barry Baltus (Ajo Academy) 45 points
4. David Salvador (Mir Racing) 36 points
5. Daniel Holgado (BeOn) 33 points
9. Adrian Fernandez (Ajo Academy) 19 points
15. Lorenzo Fellon (Ajo Academy) 8 points

#7 Barry Baltus
“I am very happy today, because in the second race we took an important step forward. Yesterday the race was similar to the first one in Valencia, in which I didn’t manage to catch the leading group -although I was able to take a fourth position that is important for the championship. In contrast, today -for the first time- we were able to fight for victory until the last moment. This is where we want to be in every race, so we will try to keep it that way at the next round. The whole team have done a great job. Thank you.”

#30 Lorenzo Fellon
“We started in both races from sixteenth on the grid, but both today and yesterday I was able to make a good start and gain a lot of positions. On the first lap yesterday I moved into thirteenth position, and stayed there until the end, when another rider crashed and I moved up a place. Today I was in a group fighting for tenth position, but a small mistake on the last lap made me go back down to twelfth. I’m happy because over the weekend we’ve been improving our lap times every day.”

#31 Adrian Fernandez
“Yesterday’s race was a pity, because I was feeling comfortable. Unfortunately, at the first corner in Lap 3 I wanted to push too much and I crashed. In contrast today we took things more calmly on the first few laps, and the result was much better. I was faster than I had been the whole weekend, and that’s important. I’m happy with sixth place and I hope to keep improving next week at Alcarras.”