Moto3 Valencia: Niccolò Antonelli “The contact with Marquez took away the podium from me, but I'm satisfied with the weekend”

Niccolo Antonelli he closed the Valencia Grand Prix with a good 7th place, the last race of the year and his last GP with the colors of the Gresini team, after 3 years together. Starting from pole, the Italian remained in close contact with the leaders, especially in the initial laps, also touching himself with Alex Marquez, thus making the numerous Spaniards hold their breath arrived at the Ricardo Tormo to see Marc's little brother win the Moto3 world championship.

“It was a very difficult race – said Niccolò Antonelli – at the beginning everything was going perfectly, I was up front fighting for the podium, but then I lost several positions due to a contact with Alex Marquez and afterwards it was very difficult to recover. All in all, seventh place is a positive result to close the season; plus I was always fast throughout the weekend, also winning my first pole position yesterday, so I'm satisfied."

“At the start of the race I wasn't confident with the bike – added Enea Bastianini – although I started well, I wasn't able to maintain a pace that would allow me to stay in the top ten and as a result I slipped back a bit. I couldn't ride as I wanted, after which, in the last five or six laps, with the most used tyre, I started to feel more comfortable. In fact, I achieved my best lap time, an excellent 1'39”689, right at the end. It's a shame, if we had managed to find this rhythm from the start, we could have fought for the podium. Today I'm a little disappointed, but in general I can be happy with my first season, in which I achieved three podiums and won the title of Rookie of the Year."