Challenging Spanish weekend: wrapping up the GP at the Jerez circuit

Friday, April 25th

The Andalusian weekend kicks off with the first Free Practice session, marked by notable developments for Team Snipers. Nicola Carraro gets off to a strong start, showing good feeling with the bike and positioning himself mid-pack early in the session.
Riccardo Rossi faces a more challenging situation, as a technical issue keeps him in the pits for the first half of the session, delaying his track time. Nicola maintains his position, narrowly missing the top 15, while Riccardo manages to gain a few spots despite completing only a handful of laps.

The day becomes more difficult for Riccardo Rossi, who is forced to skip the Pre-Qualifying session due to persistent technical problems that prevent him from taking to the track. Despite a promising start, Nicola Carraro is unable to secure direct access to Q2: although he records some strong lap times early on, traffic encountered in the closing minutes proves a decisive obstacle, hindering further improvement.
Expectations remain high for Saturday, with the team confident in the immense potential of their riders.

Saturday, April 26th

Saturday morning brings encouraging signs for Team Snipers during FP2. Riccardo Rossi finally gets on track, immediately showcasing an excellent feeling with the bike and working with the team to find a competitive setup, finishing the session with an impressive 8th fastest time.

Meanwhile, Nicola Carraro continues his methodical approach, using the session to refine his consistency and maintain strong pace in preparation for the afternoon's qualifying.

Despite the significant progress shown in the morning, qualifying proves to be a challenging session. Nicola Carraro's fastest initial lap is canceled by race direction, and a crash during his second attempt leaves him unable to post a valid time to improve his starting position.
Riccardo Rossi manages to set a competitive opening lap, but it is not enough to secure a spot in Q2. On his second attempt, heavy traffic on the track, with many riders on their out-laps, hampers his progress, and he crosses the line just as the checkered flag falls, losing his chance for a final improvement.

Sunday, April 27th

The race begins with the goal of making a comeback, and both Riccardo Rossi and Nicola Carraro deliver a good start, each gaining over 10 positions and positioning themselves just outside the top 15 by the end of the first lap.

However, Riccardo's race ends prematurely on the second lap due to a slide, influenced by the heavy traffic in the initial group and the track conditions, which remained dirty in some areas.
Nicola, on the other hand, continues with determination, maintaining a solid pace and advancing further. Within eight laps, he climbs 12 positions, momentarily securing 12th place and entering the points zone.

Unfortunately, his race concludes in a similar manner to Riccardo's: a slide in Turn 1 while attempting to close the gap to the group ahead brings his charge to an end.
A bittersweet weekend for the Team, yet with the awareness that pace and speed are on their side. The consistent progress race after race provides optimism for the future, as the focus now shifts to the next GP at the Le Mans circuit.

Comments

Riccardo Rossi sums up his weekend in a few words:
“It hasn’t been an easy weekend from the start. I had limited track time on Friday, FP2 on Saturday went better, but I couldn’t nail a fast lap in qualifying. Today, I crashed on the second lap. Let’s put this weekend behind us and immediately focus on the next GP.”

Nicola Carraro finds the silver lining despite the challenges:
“Starting from 24th, the first lap wasn’t bad at all, I managed to recover up to P14. I even reached P12, but while pushing to catch 9th place, I crashed due to a mistake on my part. At least we can say we’re satisfied with the progress, and we’ll aim to carry all the good work to Le Mans.”