Complicated weekend in Valencia for Andotrans Team Torrentó
Complicated weekend in Valencia for Andotrans Team Torrentó
Andotrans Team Torrentó finished the third round of the Spanish Superbike Championship at Circuit Ricardo Tormo with mixed feelings.
Thursday and Friday were the days of first contact with the circuit, where our riders managed to improve and go faster lap by lap. However, on Friday we had the first rain clouds and the first drops of water, which made it difficult to set up for Saturday’s qualifying.
Saturday’s qualifying and first round of Supersport Next Generation saw the debut of Abdulla Alqubaisi. A crash with eight minutes left in the session put Abdulla in P21 for the afternoon start.
It was then Oscar’s turn and he felt very comfortable on the Yamaha R1, finishing a creditable 5th on the grid.
A few hours later Abdulla started the 600cc race and after a great start he made a comeback lap after lap to finish 12th.
Next up was the SBK rider, and minutes before the race was due to start the track was declared wet. Despite this, the team opted for slicks like the rest of the field, and just as he was starting to feel more comfortable fighting for podium positions, a heavy crash in turn 1 took him out of the points.
Sunday was a different story with the sun shining brightly in the Cheste sky. In the second SSNG race, Abdulla still started from P21, but knowing the pace he had, he knew he could have a great race again. He ended up scoring points in 14th place.
Two hours later, Gutiérrez started the second race without having been able to run in the warm-up due to an electrical problem. Oscar made a good start to the 1000cc race, overtaking several times, but in the second sector the electrical problem reappeared and he was forced to retire. A weekend to forget in the premier class, but a good performance from the Qatari in his first race of 2023.
The next round of the championship will take place on 10th and 11th of July at Circuito do Estoril, in Portugal.
Ferran Torrentó
Team Manager
It was a difficult weekend for the team as we didn’t finish in the positions we had hoped for. First of all, we’d like to give our best wishes to Harry, who couldn’t race due to injury, and also to Oscar, who didn’t finish the races. On the other hand, congratulations to Abdulla who, despite starting from the back of the grid, managed to score points in the first two races”.
“We regret the crash on Saturday in the SBK and the electrical problem that prevented us from finishing today’s race. We would like to thank our sponsors for their support and assure them that we will continue to work towards our goal”.
