Alonso López takes first points of the season

The Repsol riders got good starts in the Qatar GP, with Alonso Lopez ending Lap 1 in 19th and Ryusei Yamanaka in 24th.

The race featured a large group at the front, in which Lopez remained throughout, reaching ninth place.

The Spanish bested by just 94 thousandths of a second the experienced John McPhee on the last lap, when they fought for twelfth place.

Ryusei Yamanaka, who replaced Sergio García for the Qatar GP due to the Spaniard not meeting the required age limit, battled with Rossi and Salac, besting them for 20th on the final lap.

Qatar GP 2019 Moto3 – Rider’s statements

Alonso Lopez

I started from far back and little by little I moved up as part of the first group. Lap by lap I was able to overtake rival riders and I got close to the frontrunners, but when I tried for fifth another rider hit me and I was left a second off them.

I was able to catch them again, but being at the back meant it was very difficult to gain places, because everyone takes advantage of slipstreams and your engine reaches the rev limit.

I managed to overtake one rider, but we have to learn ahead of the coming races. In any case, I’m happy with how the race went, because it was difficult to get to the first group from 25th, and we did that.

Ryusei Yamanaka

It was a very difficult race and I’m not very happy, because I wanted to do better. The start was tough, because I was twenty-fifth on the grid and on the first corner another rider made a mistake, running me wide and losing a lot of time. I tried to reach the group that was ahead of me, but couldn’t do it.

The most positive thing is that I fulfilled the goal that we had set for ourselves, which was to finish the race; it was important not to crash and put in more kilometres. This has allowed me to gain experience and learn a lot from the riders who race in the World Championship.