Hello everyone—long time no see! This third race of the year is taking place in Aragon, in central Spain. The previous race in Barcelona helped me make further progress, and I fully intend to keep that momentum going this week.
On Thursday morning, just one lap in, the bike started making a strange noise—one I’d never heard before. I decided to pull over to the side of the track, as heading back to the pits felt too risky. It turned out to be the right call; we ended up having to replace the engine. That afternoon, I had to put in some laps on a different bike with a different setup—hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
By Friday, my bike was fixed, thanks to the incredible work of my mechanic, who must have spent the entire night on it. I got back into the groove, improved my lap times, and also worked on my race pace.
Saturday morning: qualifying. I was ready. On my first run, I gave it everything; by the second lap, I’d set a solid time, putting me in 9th place. For the second run, we swapped in a fresh rear tire—the softest compound available—to push for maximum speed (my first time using it). As soon as I headed out, I could feel the difference immediately. The grip was immense, allowing me to get on the gas much harder. I knew I only had about three laps, as the rubber degrades very quickly. I managed to shave a full second off my time, moving me up to 8th position.
In the afternoon, it was scorching hot (38°C). Race control decided to shorten the race by two laps (from 14 down to 12) and reduce the time spent waiting on the starting grid (from 15 minutes down to 10).
I got off to a great start, but as I was braking to position myself for the first corner, I saw another rider coming in completely out of control. At that moment, I knew he was going to overcook it, and that by waiting a bit, I could take the inside line without any interference. I tried to keep up with the riders ahead, but they were too fast. Meanwhile, I was battling another competitor for 5th place—I held the lead for almost the entire time. On the final lap, I had a strategy: at turn three, I let him pass me, which gave me the freedom to execute my plan. But just before the long straight—over a kilometer in length—I lost a bit of front-end grip, which slowed me down and created a gap between us. By the end of the straight, I was right on his tail, almost side-by-side; we braked at the same time, but I didn’t dare release the brake to make the pass for fear of crashing. I ended up right on his rear wheel in 6th place—I was so frustrated with myself.
Sunday was the second race. I knew what I had to do, but I didn’t get a great start. I spent the first two laps battling another rider. I watched the lead group pull away, and there was nothing I could do because I was stuck behind one—and then two—bikes that I just couldn’t manage to overtake. I remained in that position for 6 laps until, growing increasingly agitated, I made a mistake (costing me 5 seconds).
I was so fired up mentally that I clocked my fastest lap right at the end. I started closing the gap, but then the race ended. I finished 9th—what a shame (Argh!).
It was a really good weekend, with a lot of lessons learned regarding race craft, lap times, and managing the bike when the tires are worn, among other things. The next race is in Navarra in 3 weeks.
