During the first nine circuits of last Sunday’s Qatar Moto3 race, Ayumu Sasaki admits, “I was living the dream,” until reliability cost him the win.
After missing out on his first Moto3 victory in Qatar, Ayumu Sasaki felt ‘cvery disappointed.’
During the early rounds, the Japanese rider raced clear of the duel for second and appeared to be in a league of his own.
Indeed, it was shaping up to be a ride on par with what we saw from Pedro Acosta, Dennis Foggia, and Romano Fenati previous season.
Sasaki came close to a highside on lap 10, loosening the left side of his fairing, but the same mechanical troubles that plagued him throughout Friday practise forced him to retire.
A gutted Sasaki said: “I am very disappointed. The team did a fantastic job and I did a great job, I felt good on the bike and I was enjoying all the moments until lap 9.
“The first ten laps went so quick, I was living the dream, because riding 1st in the GP is always a good feeling.
“I was steady, calm, but we had some issues with the bike, but that was no one’s fault. It was one unlucky thing that happened to us.
“This week maybe we had some bad luck because it happened already on Friday, but that had also nothing to do with us and the team.
“I feel sorry for the team, as well as for myself. We did a fantastic job I think. We can’t say it, but I think we were winning the race, so that’s a positive mindset, we have 20 races to go, and we have 20 races that we can do exactly the same things.
“We will travel fast and let’s see what we can do in the next race in Indonesia.”
While Sasaki’s luck ran out, teammate John McPhee was able to break into the top five in his first race with the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team.
Before losing contact on the penultimate lap, McPhee appeared to be in contention for a podium.
“The fifth position is a really solid way to start the year,” added McPhee. “I did not know how my setup was going to be across the race distance, as it was my first race with the Husqvarna bike.
“We managed to compose ourselves really well in the race and would have been perfect if I could attack just a little bit more, but I was feeling a little bit on the limit with our package at the moment.
“Overall I feel strong, we got good points for the championship and it was important to have these points to start the season in a good way.
“So a huge thank you to the team, because they work so hard all weekend to help me adapt more to the Husqvarna bike and to try to understand the way to ride this bike.
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