Team 109 Make History At Iconic Imola

Points for both riders during #ITAWorldSBK as Juan Pablo Uriostegui becomes first Mexican to score world championship point

Team 109 made history in the latest round of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship at Imola, with Juan Pablo Uriostegui racing to his first #WorldSSP300 point and the first point for a Mexican rider in the world championship!

With no testing at Imola prior to the event, Juan Pablo once again was faced with the challenge of a new circuit. Learning quickly, which we have become used to, he qualified seventeenth before putting on a great show in temperatures of more than thirty-five degrees to finish fifteenth in Saturday’s opening race. He rode another solid race on Sunday to finish just outside of the points, underlying his speed in the series.

For Alessandro Zanca, Imola presented him with a second ‘home’ race, and he relished the opportunity to once again race in front of his family and friends, as well as more than 53,000 fans that packed themselves into the sunbaked circuit across the weekend.

Qualifying sixth he put himself in a prime position for two good races and had it not been for some overly aggressive maneuvers from his rivals, he could well have been in the battle for the top five or even the podium. Solid points in both races for the Italian, especially on Sunday after a morning warm up spill, moves him further up the leaderboard in the overall championship and is a big confidence boost ahead of the Czech Republic.

Juan Pablo Uriostegui:
“I used Friday’s FP1 and FP2 to learn the track and I was able to get more comfortable with each lap. In qualifying I didn’t get the best lap but was able to take seventeenth on the grid. In race one on Saturday, I tried my best and was able to go with the second group. I ended the race in fifteenth, which was my first point in the championship. In the second race I was fighting for fourteenth but then I started struggling with my suit which became very tight due to the extreme heat, and I started to lose position. I finished nineteenth. I am looking forward to the next race and to hopefully scoring more points.”

Alessandro Zanca:
“The weekend started good as I ended up in a good position. In race one I had a good feeling with the bike but had contact with another rider. I pushed to recover but it was difficult and so in the end I finished in fifteenth position. In warm up on Sunday I crashed but I was determined to push hard for a good result in race two. I was able to finish eleventh after running in the top five for some of the race. I want to thank the team for the good work once again. I am liking them more and more every race we are together. Thank you to the sponsors and to everyone that supports us. See you in Most.”

Paul Tobin – Team Principal:
“Imola is a hard circuit and a new one for us as a team. I am pleased with the efforts of the team and both our riders, especially with Juan Pablo who learned the circuit quickly on Friday and Alessandro who did a decent job in Superpole. Alessandro made a good start in race one but unfortunately got bumped back out of the top twenty on the opening lap. He did a really good job at fighting his way back through the pack to thirteenth and could have finished higher if it hadn’t been for some other riders making contact which forced him to run on at the chicane. It was a great first race for Juan Pablo scoring his first world championship point and for us too, being the team that not only brough the first Mexican rider into the series but also helped them to achieve their first points on the world stage. Alessandro was a little sore after a crash in warm up on Sunday morning, but he dug deep and was in the lead group in the early stages, running inside the top six. It was tough on all the riders, and we were happy that Alessandro was able to ride as well as he did to bring it home in eleventh. Juan Pablo was once again in the fight for points and whilst he didn’t make the top fifteen once again showed his pace. Overall, it was a good weekend for the team with both riders scoring points. We could have achieved more in race one but that’s racing, and we move on to Most in a fortnight with our heads high.”