Portuguese André Pires appreciated his performance in the Catalan Grand Prix, the third round of the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup, which ended with a surprise victory for Spanish Miquel Pons.
Pires finished in thirteenth place on Sunday, after gaining five places to start eighteenth through the qualifying stage on Saturday. The Avintia driver described the weekend as “electrifying”, since emotions have been constant in each of the races and he left with good feelings to be able to score points.
“It was a demanding weekend, like everyone else, but I managed to score points again and that is positive. But I would like to be able to do more because I feel like I can do it, but without riding a bicycle it is impossible,” declared Pires.
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He applauded the work of his team to face the tough season of electric motorcycles in the best way. “The team has been tireless in helping me and we were able to find some modifications that helped me feel more comfortable with the bike.”
Possibility of surprising
Pires stressed that Pons’ triumph represents an extra motivation, since the Spanish prevailed against favorite rivals such as Dominique Aegerter, Eric Granado, Jordi Torres and the current leader of the tournament, Alessandro Zaccone. It should be noted that the latter was not in the papers when the harvest began, but gradually his performance has made him enter the calculations to be part of the podium.
The Portuguese rider, who is facing his first season in MotoE, assured that he has already taken the pressure off his debut, after acknowledging nervousness in the first competition held in Jerez.
He affirmed that he will continue to work hard to fight for the top spots and predicted the next tournament as very complicated because it is a new track. “The next race will be held on an unknown circuit, but we will try again to finish as far forward as possible,” stressed team representative Avintia Esponsorama.
The Lusitanian currently occupies the 15th place in the general table and is optimistic about the next race on the calendar, which will be held in the Netherlands, in the so-called “Cathedral of Speed”, Assen, on June 27.
Written by I Jhonattan González
