MotoE Austria: Best Race Weekend so far

Friday, August 15th

The Austrian weekend kicks off with the MotoE class, opening the schedule with the first free practice session. Nicholas Spinelli immediately stands out, finishing the session in 2nd place, just 14 thousandths of a second off the fastest time. A solid start as well for Tibor Varga, who showed steady improvement throughout the session and ended up 12th, demonstrating a good feeling with the track ahead of the upcoming outings.

During the 15-minute Practice session, there was a clear improvement in lap times. Tibor Varga surprised everyone with a series of fast laps that brought him close to direct access to Q2, finishing in the top 10 for the first time in a session. Nicholas Spinelli, on the other hand, confirmed his strong form, securing direct qualification to Q2 with impressive consistency.

Q1 was flawless for Tibor Varga, who made the most of the 10 minutes available, setting red sectors on every lap and finishing in 1st place, securing access to Q2 and joining Nicholas Spinelli in the fight for pole position. Spinelli’s Q2, however, came to an early end due to a crash on his first flying lap, preventing him from setting a valid time. Varga delivered a solid performance, managing only one clean attempt as two yellow flags automatically invalidated his other laps. Despite the crash, Spinelli remains confident thanks to the strong feeling he found with the bike, ready to make the most of it in Saturday’s races. In MotoE, Varga will start from 9th and Spinelli from 10th in both Race 1 and Race 2.

Saturday, August 16th

The race day begins with positive vibes, as Tibor Varga and Nicholas Spinelli are determined to make up ground. Race 1 starts with a strong progression from Varga, who immediately gains several positions on the opening lap. Spinelli also gets off to a good start, holding his position and trying to stay connected to the leading group. Midway through the race, Varga struggles to overtake the rider ahead, losing valuable time and missing the chance to fight for the podium. Spinelli, meanwhile, manages to gain one position without making any mistakes throughout the race. Varga finishes in 6th place, achieving his best result of the season, while Spinelli ends in 9th, adding important points to his world championship standings.

Following the strong result in Race 1, Tibor Varga’s expectations rise significantly, confident he can improve even further. Both riders get off to a good start: Spinelli immediately gains one position, while Varga pulls off three overtakes on the first lap, moving up to 6th and quickly climbing to 5th on the second lap.
With a strong and uninterrupted pace, Varga’s goal becomes closing the gap built up in the first two laps by the four riders at the front. With two laps to go, Spinelli makes another overtake, while Varga catches up to the leading group, igniting a spectacular battle for the podium.
On the final lap, Varga grabs 3rd place but is overtaken at the penultimate corner, finishing 4th and improving on his best result from Race 1. Spinelli crosses the line in 8th, collecting more championship points.
With this result, Varga matches the team’s best finish of the season — achieved by Spinelli in Race 1 at Assen — and fuels high expectations ahead of the next round: the home Grand Prix in Hungary.

Riders Comments

Tough races for Nicholas Spinelli, despite the positions gained:
“The weekend started off well, but unfortunately after a mistake in qualifying, the GP became a bit of an uphill battle. I was putting together a good lap but crashed before I could set a time, which meant I had to start 10th in both races. In Race 1 I had some difficulties that didn’t allow me to recover more than one position. In Race 2 the feeling was better, but starting from the back still made things tough. Now we’re getting ready for Hungary, aiming to give it our all. I apologize to the team for having to rebuild the bike quickly after the crash, and I thank them for their support.”

Tibor Varga is happy about the weekend, ready to continue with this trend:
“It was a good weekend where I took a step forward. In the first race, I had a strong start, but I struggled to overtake another rider, and because of that, I lost the slipstream of the front group. Still, I gained a lot of confidence for Race 2. In Race 2, I was ready to fight for the podium even though I started from 9th, and I managed to do just that. I was in 3rd place until two corners from the end, when I got overtaken. At the final corner, I thought about trying another move for the podium, but it was too risky—I didn’t want to risk crashing after such a positive weekend. In the end, I finished 4th. Next week is my home race, and I’m ready to confirm my potential."