02/07/2023

Double victory for Senna Agius, Jakob Rosenthaler scores twice

For the juniors of German’s LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team, the long journey to the south of Portugal was worth it.

The challenging track at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve was the venue this weekend for round four of the season of what is arguably the most important junior racing series in motorcycle racing. LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team not only turned up in full force but was also highly motivated to build on its performances at the last event three weeks ago in Jerez and make up lost ground.

18-year-old Senna Agius from Australia stumbled a little bit in Jerez but arrived in good spirits at the circuit not far from the Algarve coastline in southern Portugal, because he counts the most difficult track on the calendar among his absolute favourites. After three wins at the beginning of the season, Agius left no doubt already on days of practice that he feels comfortable in Portimao. Starting from pole position, he took two uncontested race wins on Sunday. At the next race in Barcelona, Agius can decide the championship in his favour early.

In the JuniorGP™ Moto3™ class, the young riders had to contend not only with the truly unique rollercoaster track, but also with midsummer conditions with extreme heat and sometimes strong winds. After initial teething troubles, both Jakob Rosenthaler and his Upper Austrian compatriot Leo Rammerstofer showed encouraging progress, not at least on race day.

Rosenthaler was the one who delivered his best performance of the season so far in qualifying with ninth place and collected good points on Sunday with two strong performances in twelfth and eighth. Rammerstorfer, on the other hand, was relegated to the very last spot on the starting grid due to a penalty and needed the first race to improve his feeling for the difficult track. In the second race, he narrowly missed out on the points in 17th place but was pleased with his personal fastest lap time of the weekend.

Mohammed Abdalaziz Binladin, the sole representative of LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Team in European Talent Cup, struggled with the track throughout the weekend and clearly missed out on a direct qualification for the main race. The talent from Saudi Arabia did not fare much better in the "Last Chance Race" on Sunday morning.

The next stop in the series is the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in two weeks.

#JuniorGP Portimao – Moto3™ Rangliste Qualiying

1 Luca LUNETTA / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / KTM / 1´48.147

2 Àngel PIQUERAS / ESP / ESTRELLA GALICIA 0,0 / HONDA / 1´48.660 +0.513

3 Adrían CRUCES / ESP / FINETWORK MIR RACING TEAM / KTM / 1´48.795 +0.648

9 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´49.229 +1.082

24 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´50.713 (Q1)

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto3™ Rennen 1 (15 Runden):

1 Xabier ZURUTUZA / ESP / MTA JUNIOR TEAM / KTM / 27´23.489

2 Tatchakorn BUASRI / THA / HONDA RACING THAILAND / HONDA / +0.055

3 Luca LUNETTA / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / KTM / +0.131

12 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +1.633

18 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +25.729

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto3™ Rennen 2 (15 Runden):

1 JOEL ESTEBAN / ESP / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / GASGAS / 27:22.433

2 ÁNGEL PIQUERAS / ESP / ESTRELLA GALICIA 0,0 / HONDA / +0.013

3 DAVID ALMANSA / ESP / FINETWORK MIR RACING TEAM / KTM / +0.101

8 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +8.720

17 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / +17.255

FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship:

1 Ángel PIQUERAS / SPA / Honda / 140

2 Alvaro CARPE / SPA / Husqvarna / 86

3 Luca LUNETTA / ITA / KTM / 76

13 #78 Jakob ROSENTHALER / AUT / Husqvarna / 39

23 #50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER / AUT / Husqvarna / 4

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto2™ Rangliste Qualifikationstraining (QP1/QP2):

1 #81 Senna AGIUS / AUS / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Husqvarna / 1´43.347 (QP1)

2 Carlos TATAY / SPA / PERTAMINA MANDALIKA SAG TEAM / KALEX / 1´43.594 +0.247 (QP1)

3 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / 1´43.682 +0.335 (QP1)

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto2™ Rennen 1 (16 Runden):

1 #81 Senna AGIUS / AUS / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / KALEX / 27´42.877

2 Alberto SURRA / ITA / TEAM CIATTI-BOSCOSCURO / BOSCOSCURO / +11.788

3 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / +11.842

#JuniorGP Portimao - Moto2™ Rennen 1 (16 Runden):

1 #81 Senna AGIUS / AUS / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / KALEX / 27´46.015

2 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / PROMORACING / KALEX / +5.500

3 Roberto GARCÍA / SPA / CARDOSO-FANTIC RACING / KALEX / +6.929

FIM Moto2™ European Championship:

1 #81 Senna AGIUS / AUS / Husqvarna / 141

2 Xavier CARDELÚS / AND / KALEX / 80

3 Mattia RATO / ITA / KALEX / 75

#JuniorGP Portimao - ETC Rangliste Qualifikationstraining Gr B (QP1/QP2):

1 Guido PINI / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / Honda / 1´50.544 (QP2)

2 Jesús RIOS / ESP / MRE TALENT / Honda / 1´50.793 +0.249 (QP1)

3 Hakim DANISH / MAL / MONLAU MOTUL / Honda / 1´51.001 +0.457 (QP1)

20 #88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ / SAU / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / 1´55.236 +4.692 (QP1)

#JuniorGPPortimao - ETC Last Chance Race (7 Runden):

1 Valentín PERRONE / ARG / TEAM LARRESPORT / Honda / 13´17.317

2 Enzo BELLON / FRA / BS RACING / Honda / +0.053

3 Edoardo BERTOLA / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / Honda / +0.137

18 #88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ / SAU / LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / +16.709

#JuniorGP Portimao - ETC Rennen (14 Runden):

1 Dodó BOGGIO / ITA / ASPAR JUNIOR TEAM / Honda / 26´01.500

2 Casey O’GORMAN / IRL / SUPERHUGO44 TEAM / Honda / +0.048

3 Guido PINI / ITA / AC RACING TEAM / Honda / +0.071

European Talent Cup:

1 Máximo QUILES / SPA / 124

2 Brian URIARTE / SPA / 123

3 Dodó BOGGIO / ITA / 95

#81 Senna AGIUS

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto2, KALEX)
Pole-Position / Race 1: Winner / Race 2: Winner

"Portimao was a strong weekend and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be up the front right from the start, especially after a difficult weekend like the last one in Jerez, where I lacked a bit of feeling. So, I am happy to be back at the level we started the season with. A big thank you to the Intact GP team for their work this weekend, and also to everyone else involved, like my family and all the sponsors. I am looking forward to Barcelona, where hopefully we can achieve the same."

#78 Jakob ROSENTHALER

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto3, Husqvarna)
Grid position: 8 / Race 1: P12 / Grid position: 9 / Race 2: P8

"Overall, it was a good weekend, even though the conditions with the heat and strong winds gave me a hard time at the beginning. But on Friday it was already much better. After the first session I was 13th on the list. The feeling was good, and the lap times were consistent. But on Saturday it went steeply uphill. Already in the morning’s practice I was able to set a good time quickly, which was enough for 13th place in the end. That meant I made it through Q2 directly, which was a big relief because the pressure was much less to do so. Q2 was then not only the best session of the weekend, but also my best qualifying this year. The timing was perfect as I was able to improve by a tenth on the last lap. That moved me up two places in the end. I was super happy with ninth place."

"I was less satisfied with the first race. It started with a bad start because a gear jumped out once. That cost a lot of time. After that it was difficult to make up lost ground and catch up with the group in front of me. Minor mistakes happened and overtaking was not so easy either. In the end I was close, but I could not overtake any rider. In the second race, the gap to the front was a bit bigger because the leading group was able to pull away right away. From about the middle of the race I noticed that I was very competitive. I used this strength in the last two laps and fought my way through energetically. I am definitely very happy with eighth place."

#50 Leo RAMMERSTORFER

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (Moto3, Husqvarna)
Grid position: 30 / Race 1: P12 / Grid position: 24 / Race 2: P17

"After a difficult start to the weekend, there was a pleasing end. It took me a long time to develop a good feeling. Besides, the gap was far too big, bigger than ever this year. In addition, I did most of the laps alone in qualifying, which was not very helpful whilst individual sector times were not too bad, but it was not enough for a complete lap. After changing the setup, I had a much better feeling right away in the first race. The position at the end was less nice because I had to start from the last grid spot."

"The second race was then certainly my personal highlight of the weekend. The feeling was better again and, given the difficult conditions, I was even able to improve my lap time by a second compared to qualifying. I am very satisfied with that. What is more, I managed it without slipstream. So, I think that I am actually back where I left off in Jerez. That gives me courage and strength, even if I could not take a point. But I have a good feeling again, and I am really looking forward to Barcelona."

#88 Mohammed ABDALAZIZ BINLADIN

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Junior Team (ETC)
Grid position: 12 / Last-Chance-Race: P18

"The weekend started with decent lap times on Thursday. But on Friday I crashed, which was not good at all for qualifying. Finally, my race this morning was not good either. I was too slow at the start and lost the connection to the group right on the first lap. The rest of the race wasn't much better. Check off Portimao and start again in Barcelona."

JrGP Portimao - July 2023

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