17th for Odendaal in Misano

After the cancelled British Grand Prix two weeks ago, all Moto2 World Championship riders were eager to line up on the grid in sunny Misano (San Marino) this weekend, in front of many cheerful Italian fans. Having dedicated Friday and Saturday’s free practice to finding the best set-up for his NTS machine of Team RW Racing GP, Steven Odendaal went into the qualifying session on Saturday confident. “I was really happy with my lap time in qualifying, I improved a lot and finished 1.5 off the front. I could not believe it was only enough for a 25th position on the grid. The Moto2 class this year is extremely competitive.”

“The race started off well for us, I was quite strong at the beginning and felt comfortable on the opening laps. Unfortunately I was not able to maintain the pace later on to go with the group in front of me. There was nice battle, but lacking a bit of a front end feeling and losing rear grip meant that I had to settle for a 17th position after the chequered flag. I am glad that we now have a 2-day test next week to look for some improvements to come back stronger for Aragon, one of my favourite tracks. It would be great to get into the points there again.”