CFMOTO Racing PruestelGP rolled out its CFMOTO factory bikes on European soil for the first time in 2022, after MotoGP™ had visited overseas stops in Qatar, Indonesia, Argentina and the USA since the beginning of March.
Friday Free Practice saw Xavi Artigas and Carlos Tatay trying to survive in very wet and windy conditions. Tatay was able to move directly to Q2 on Saturday and where he qualified 4th and was at the top of the second row of the grid. Artigas was 19th and on row seven.
Sunday was – thankfully – dry and sunny. It meant that race set-up for the 21 laps was a small gamble.
Artigas could not quite find the extra tenths of a second per lap to get into contention for the top ten. He crossed the line out of the points and down in 20th.
Tatay floated around the edge of the leading posse but the rhythm and the spaces between small groups tightened and lengthened. Carlos ended up fronting the large second pack in the fight for 6th and deflected all the pressure to make sure of the top six.
CFMOTO Racing PruestelGP have 68 points in the Teams championship standings, which means they are currently 4th from 14 scorers in the category. Carlos is still the highest placed racer in the Riders table in 8th.
In contrast to the Algarve International Circuit, the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto in Jerez, southern Spain is a long-term MotoGP host having entertained almost four decades of racing and thousands of laps of testing over the years. For Artigas and Tatay in particular it will be the teenagers’ home event. Jerez is famous for its rowdy atmosphere and packed spectator zones. For the first time since 2019 MotoGP™ should feel the full Jerez effect again next weekend!
#99 Carlos Tatay | P06
“Overall a good weekend because I was able to be competitive in all conditions, even when it was really wet. I’m not that happy because today I had a really good bike to fight for the victory but I made a mistake at the beginning and the first five guys broke away. It was difficult to recover but I felt great and was riding very well at the end of the race. No regrets. We just have to cut down the mistakes and focus more. We’ll go home, train and think ahead to Jerez where we’ll go for it.”
#43 Xavier Artigas | P20
“Not the race I would have liked. I just couldn’t overtake in the group. It was a shame but next weekend we have another chance to do better. I’m really looking to Jerez, especially now because this weekend proved to be difficult and didn’t go as we wanted.”
Tom Lüthi | Team Manager
“The weekend was up and down, especially in terms of the weather. The first few days were wet, so we weren’t able to find the optimal racing set-up. The riders used the track time to get a good feeling to the bike and push for qualifying. We can be satisfied with Carlos Tatay’s weekend. He set fast times in wet conditions, took 4th place on the grid in qualifying and showed a strong race today on a dry track. The gap to the riders in front opened up due to a braking issue, but he could no longer close the gap – even if he set the fastest lap again towards the end of the race. He confidently defended his 6th place against the following riders. With Xavier Artigas, on the other hand, not everything went together. In addition to riding problems on days 1 and 2, there was also some bad luck and he had to go down several times. Partly through no fault of their own, which cost a lot of track time. Today during the warm-up, he had another highside that messed up trust and rhythm, so that Xavi couldn’t do it today. Now it’s time to focus and prepare for Jerez! We have the potential and will attack again next week.”
Results Moto3™ Grande Premio Tissot de Portugal
1. Sergio Garcia, (ESP), GASGAS 38:17.725
2. Jaume Masia (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.069
3. Ayumu Sasaki, (JPN), Husqvarna +0.110
6. Carlos Tatay, ESP, CFMOTO +4.094
20. Xavier Artigas, ESP, CFMOTO +26.580
