Angel Piqueras wipes out the front row at Turn 1 in Misano – his apology comes whilst the race is still underway – debate in the Moto2 paddock
The Moto2 race at Misano got off to a dramatic start. Immediately after the start, a crash occurred at the first corner, taking out all three riders who had started from the front row. Angel Piqueras was responsible for the crash.
Daniel Holgado was the first to enter the first corner. Pole-sitter Senna Agius was on the outside. Piqueras braked too late, first hitting Holgado’s rear tyre and then crashing into the side of Agius. All three tumbled into the gravel trap.
Whilst the race was still underway, Piqueras visited the IntactGP pit to apologise to Agius. On the television broadcast, the Australian’s blunt words to Piqueras could be heard clearly.
“Yes, you can apologise. But you started from third on the grid, and you’re a rookie. Imagine if you’d been in with a chance of a podium. After just one corner, you were probably thinking: ‘I’m going to get that podium.’”
Agius then addressed Saturday’s MotoGP sprint start, when Marc Marquez snatched the lead from Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 1: “You saw Marc yesterday. But now it’s no longer about…”
Piqueras was unable to replicate this manoeuvre, and it ended in disaster. The race stewards handed down two long-lap penalties for this manoeuvre to be served at his next race.
“I’d like to apologise to the riders who were involved in the crash,” said Piqueras, apologising for the incident. “I made a mistake. I hope they’re both OK.”
Holgado has put the situation behind him: “That’s how races are: sometimes things like this happen. One day you’re the one it happens to, and another day it’s caused by someone else. The most important thing is that I’m all right.”
Even before the race, there had been talk in the Moto2 paddock that something might happen at the start. After all, Piqueras is a rookie in the middleweight class. At Misano, the Spaniard had qualified third for the second time.
He’d already started from the front row in Austin. Back then, there was a crash involving seven riders on the first lap at Turn 11. This pile-up was caused by rookie Alberto Ferrandez, who approached the corner far too quickly.
Piqueras suffered a fracture to his left femur and had to sit out five races. He has been back on the grid since Brno. Since then, two 14th-place finishes have been his best results.
Piqueras makes a rookie mistake
Now, starting from third on the grid at Misano, Piqueras had the perfect starting position for his first top result in Moto2. But he made exactly the mistake the other riders had feared.
“To be honest,” says Collin Veijer, who started sixth, directly behind Piqueras, “I was already expecting something like that in Turn 1. It’s something quite special when a Moto3 rider is up there in his first year.”
“I think he hadn’t anticipated that the fuel would be so heavy going into Turn 1. That’s why he braked quite late. In Moto3 that’s not a big problem, but on a Moto2 bike the rear wheel lifts off the ground.”
“It’s impossible to stop such a heavy motorbike like that. That’s why it’s very unfortunate for him, and of course especially so for Senna and Dani.” Although Piqueras caused the crash, Veijer takes a slightly more nuanced view of the situation.
“I wouldn’t put all the blame on Piqueras, though, because it was his first time in that situation,” says the Ajo team rider. “He simply didn’t know any better. Of course it was a mistake. He knows himself that he did something wrong.”
“And I don’t think it will happen again. He was a Moto3 rider on the front row for the first time. I think he was very nervous. But to be honest, I’d expected it.”
The team should have prepared Piqueras better
The general consensus in the Moto2 field was that the MSi team should have made it clearer to Piqueras that, when starting from the front row, you have to brake differently into the first corner than when starting from the middle of the grid.
” “We discussed this very point with the team,” says Manuel Gonzalez. “We talked about the fact that Muñoz and Piqueras might be a bit more dangerous than the other riders.”
“Because they’re not used to being on the front row.” David Munoz, who is also competing in his first full season, started from fourth place. It was the second time he had qualified for the second row of the grid.
“You have to assess the situation a bit better,” says Gonzalez, “when you can’t see any riders in front of you to use as a reference when braking. You simply have to stay a bit calmer. Luckily, the crash didn’t affect us.”
Gonzalez benefited from the crash at the start and had three fewer rivals to contend with. He only had to keep Veijer at bay, which he managed to do. With his fifth win of the season, the IntactGP rider extended his lead in the World Championship to 47.5 points.
