31 March 2022 – Termas de Río Hondo – Argentina

The World Championship has not been held in Argentina since 2019. The pandemic has profoundly changed the course of the championships of 2020 and 2021, limiting overseas travel.

Unfortunately, we will run in reduced ranks, since John is still recovering after the injury to the vertebrae, occurred a few weeks ago. His recovery is going very well, and our driver is undergoing intense physiotherapy sessions to try to recover for the Grand Prix of the Americas. In the previous Grand Prix Ayumu unfortunately made a mistake on the last lap, hitting the rear wheel of A. Migno and ending the race with a crash.

No damage for him and his colleague, but because of this he will have to serve a long lap penalty during the race. Emanuele Martinelli, crew chief of Ayumu, and Peter Ottl, our team manager, both recovered from Covid, will return to the pits.

We leave the word to Ayumu and our Team Owner Max Biaggi.

AYUMU SASAKI : “I just can’t wait to race to Argentina, starting over again because, in the first two races of the season, even though we showed our speed, we didn’t get what we deserved. Indeed I did not manage to finish the race in Indonesia and we had technical issues in Qatar. It did not start how we wanted, but the good thing is that we have speed. We showed our potential, so i just need to get back there, thinking that Argentina is the first race of the season for me. I must give my all, trying to finish as high as possible. I am very confident and very motivated and I think we will be able to get back the points that we lost in the first two races. I will try to do my best.”

MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “Even for this Grand Prix we won’t have John on track. The injury to the vertebrae is always very serious and it is important that our driver can heal well, in order to get back on track safely. Ayumu in the last Grand Prix made a error of assessment, as we have seen many. He was the first to be sorry and I am sorry that someone did not understand that such a mistake in motorcycle racing can always happen. In 2019 in the last Grands Prix Aron was repeatedly mowed, losing in fact the chance to fight for the world championship. Now we return to the track, with the desire that Ayumu can earn the first points.”

Statistics

In 2019 the Grand Prix raced for the last time on this track and on that occasion J. Masia won the race, preceding D. Binder and T. Arbolino. J. Masia achieved the Pole, with a time of 1’48.775 and an average of 159 Km/h.
On this track Ayumu got as best result a fifth place in 2019.

As for the records, the All-Time Lap Record and the Best Pole belong to M. Oliveira, who in 2015 got the pole, with a time of 1’48.461 and an average of 159.5 Km/h. In the same year M. Oliveira, with a time of 1’48.977 and an average of 158.7 Km/h, has obtained the Best Race Lap. 236.2 Km/h is the Top Speed, reached in 2019 by K. Toiba.

Schedule – Local Time (GMT -3)

Here are the times to follow the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing this weekend.

Thursday 31 March
12:00 – Press Conference

Friday 01 April
09:00 – 09:40 – FP1 Moto3
13:15 – 13:55 – FP2 Moto3

Saturday 02 April
09:00 – 09:40 – FP3 Moto3
12:35 – 12:50 – Q1 Moto3
13:00 – 13:15 – Q2 Moto3

Sunday 03 April
10:00 – 10:10 – Warm-Up Moto3
12:00 – Race Moto3