Lorenzo Fellon and Barry Baltus suffer technical problems in final race of PreMoto3 series. Adrian Fernandez misses the contest through injury.

The PreMoto3 Spanish Championship season came to an end this Sunday at Jerez, with results for the Ajo Motorsport Academy not what they had hoped. Despite taking good positions on the grid, both Lorenzo Fellon and Barry Baltus suffered technical problems that have left them out of the fight for the top positions in the race. The Frenchman was able to finish in fifteenth position after a stop in the garage, while the Belgian was forced to retire. The third member of the team, Adrian Fernandez, was not able to participate after breaking his right little finger on Thursday.

Lorenzo Fellon had repeated his best result of the year in qualifying, placing third on the grid. The Frenchman made a good start, completing the first lap in that same position, but technical problems quickly came to the fore, as a part on his bike broke. The young rider thus went into the pits, where his crew did a great job of fixing the problem and allowed him to get back on track. Fellon again set a great pace, completing the race in fifteenth place and earning a point.

After being selected by the Red Bull Rookies Cup for 2018, Baltus was optimistically facing the end of his second season in this competition. Starting from the third row, the Belgian took a good start and was fighting for positions on the first three laps. At that moment, Baltus also noticed something on his bike was not right, forcing him to abandon the race after 8 laps.

The Ajo Motorsport Academy thus conclude their second season in the competition. In the overall standings, Barry Baltus finished 4th -117 points-, Adrian Fernandez 10th -50 points- and Lorenzo Fellon 11th -37 points-. 

Results (Race)
1. David Salvador (Mir Racing) 24:19.252
2. Marcos Ruda (Mir Racing) +0.707
3. Ondrej Vostatek (Beon) +3.013
4. Julian Giral (Beon) +16.641
5. Iñigo Iglesias (-) +23.386
15. Lorenzo Fellon (Ajo Academy) 2 laps
DNF – Barry Baltus (Ajo Academy)

PreMoto3 Championship Standing
1. Pedro Acosta (Mir Racing) 150 points
2. David Salvador (Mir Racing) 139 points
3. Adrian Huertas (Mir Racing) 120 points
4. Barry Baltus (Ajo Academy) 117 points
5. Julian Giral (Beon) 102 points
10. Adrian Fernandez (Ajo Academy) 50 points
11. Lorenzo Fellon (Ajo Academy) 37 points 

  7 – BARRY BALTUS 
“Yesterday we got eighth position on the starting grid. That is not a bad result, but the truth is that I was a little disappointed, because I expected more. Today I made a good start and I was able to ride with the lead group on the first three laps. From that moment I saw that something was not working correctly and I was losing pace, until the bike stopped completely after eight laps and forced me to retire. It’s a shame to finish our second season this way, but that’s the way races go.”

 30 – LORENZO FELLON
“It had been a very positive weekend. From Thursday we had put in very good times and yesterday we achieved third position in qualifying. This morning I was a bit nervous when starting from the front row, but I made a good start. On the fifth lap a part broke and I had to go through the pits. My mechanics did a great job and I was able to get back on track and ride at my best, but I had already lost too many laps.I think this first season in PreMoto3 has not gone badly at all. We have achieved good results and above all I have learned, which was the important thing this year. It will be next year when the goal is to win. I want to thank Aki [Ajo] and the whole team for all the support they have given me.”

  31 – ADRIAN FERNANDEZ 
“It has been a shame not to ride in the last race of the year here at Jerez. I tried to get on the bike and compete, but after the first session on Friday I saw that my finger hurt a lot and it was impossible to continue. I was very motivated to do well and celebrate the end of the season with a great result. I just want to thank the whole Ajo Academy team for this first year in PreMoto3, in which I have learned a lot.”