Hard weekend but points scored in Germany

Friday, July 11th

The weekend opens with a warm and dry FP1 session after several days of rain at the Sachsenring. On such a unique track, the team focused mainly on fine-tuning and improving the riders’ feeling on the bike, without aiming for a time attack in this first outing.

Lap times dropped significantly during the Practice session, allowing the riders to approach the top positions with greater confidence. Riccardo faced some difficulties in the first part of the session, unable to find the extra push needed to make the decisive step before the end of the run. Nicola was more incisive, consistent and fast throughout, but was penalized in the final moments by traffic on track, which prevented him from improving further.
Q2 access slipped away by just a few thousandths, but the overall feeling remains positive.

Saturday, July 12th

Saturday, qualifying day, begins with FP2 in wet conditions due to overnight rain. The team and riders focus their work on rain setup and feeling, anticipating similar conditions for qualifying, as the forecast shows no improvement throughout the day.

Qualifying takes place on a wet track, with rain intensifying during the session. Teams opt for a single set of rain tyres, with no mid-session pit stops.
Riccardo Rossi, still not in top physical condition, continues to struggle in the wet. Despite a slight improvement from the morning, he’s unable to fully exploit the track's potential and is now facing a comeback race on Sunday.
Nicola Carraro, on the other hand, shows great progression and moves to the top of the Q1 timesheet in the final minutes. However, during his decisive lap, he finds himself leading a group of riders who use his slipstream. Carraro ends the session as the first rider excluded from Q2, narrowly missing out by just a few tenths.

Sunday, July 13th

The starting grid saw both Snipers riders facing a comeback race: Nicola Carraro lined up in 19th, with Riccardo Rossi just behind in 22nd.
When the lights went out, the dry track once again played in Carraro’s favor, as he immediately recovered four positions in the opening corners, staying close to the leading group. A solid start also for Rossi, who gained a position on the first lap, showing more confidence compared to the previous days.

By lap four, Nicola quickly served his long lap penalty (carried over from the contact in the previous GP) without losing his rhythm. Meanwhile, Rossi continued climbing through the midfield.
Carraro kept pushing hard, but a crash while trying to close the gap to the front group forced him to pit for quick repairs. He rejoined the race and still managed to finish in 18th, clocking strong lap times in the closing stages.

Rossi maintained his progression thanks to a consistent pace and some mistakes from rivals. On the final lap, he completed one last overtake to finish 14th, scoring 2 important points for the standings.
A positive Sunday after a complicated weekend, leaving encouraging signs ahead of the upcoming race in the Czech Republic.

Comments

An optimistic Nicola Carraro, despite the crash in the race:
"This race was affected by the crash, but after the pit stop I went back out and was lapping really fast, almost like a 'race simulation.' We’ll take the positives from this race, and I’m glad Brno is coming up next week because I can’t wait to get back on track."

Aware of his potential, Riccardo Rossi knows where he needs to improve:
"In the race I'm usually able to be consistent and keep a good pace, the potential to stay with the front group is always there. Together with the team, we're working on performing better in the other sessions too, so we can start further ahead and really fight for the key positions during the GP. Now we’ll immediately start preparing for Brno, aiming to put together a stronger weekend from start to finish."