Portuguese rider André Pires, from the Avintia group, acknowledged being “very nervous” in the debut race in the MotoE World Cup, which took place in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where he arrived in twelfth place to get four points.
“I am very happy to have finished the race. It is my first GP and I was certainly very happy. I was very nervous at the start and during the race, and I only thought about finishing, what I managed to do afterwards was to opt for a safer race,” he said.
“I saw many riders fall and, although I felt that I was faster towards the end, I preferred to maintain a safety margin and finish,” explained the rider after the start of the third season of the electric motorcycle series.
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He assured to work “very hard” in the face of the next big prizes, although he admits that the competition will not be easy as he will have to fight with pilots of the stature of Jordi Torres, Dominique Aegerter and Eric Granado, among others.
The Trás-os-Montes native, who started from the 17th and penultimate position, achieved a good rebound in the race and was 28.027 seconds behind the winner, the Italian Alessandro Zaccone.
The Swiss Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt) finished in second place with 0.419 seconds, and the Spanish Jordi Torres in third place with 0.614.
With these results, André Pires occupies the 12th position of the championship, with four points, 21 behind the leader, Zaccone.
Preseason full of ups and downs
The Portuguese rider had a very good preseason where he showed great adaptation and grip of the Esponsorama Avintia electric powered motorcycle, although he also got around some difficulties.
The Lusitanian had a long winter break, but the call came from the electric category and he was present from the first official test at the Jerez Ángel Nieto circuit. “I feel very good with the Energica Ego Corsa,” said Pires about the e-bike specially prepared for this competition.
Image: motogp.com
Despite feeling comfortable with the motorcycle, Pires suffered a fall during the preseason that, to everyone’s relief, did not have serious consequences, but it conditioned him in terms of confidence and mental strength for the start.
“After the accident, I lost my confidence a bit and on the last day I fought against this mental obstacle. But together with the team I managed to overcome this blockage and although I did not improve my lap time, I once again recorded good passages thanks to the work done together with the technician who accompanied me and all the support of the team.”
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“I feel like I need more laps naturally, I need to get used to it and also put my body in the ‘place’ because I was standing for a long time,” he said.
Pires faces a totally different challenge in 2021 than he is used to. After being a national speed champion and also a regular face at the Macau Grand Prix and more recently at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, he is now part of the structure of the Moto E, which seeks to establish itself as one of the most prominent tournaments in terms of mobility and sustainability.
Despite the ups and downs and nervousness of the MotoE debut, Pires is confident to get better results for the French GP on May 16.
Written by I Jhonattan González
