Mitani replaces Carraro for the Indonesian weekend

Friday, October 3rd

With the start of the Indonesian weekend comes the official World Championship debut for Zen Mitani, immediately impressive in the opening laps of Free Practice 1. Riccardo Rossi managed his session with steady progress, improving his time attack lap by lap and finishing inside the top 15, closely followed by the young Japanese rider.

The afternoon session began well for Mitani, who quickly found a solid rhythm in his first few laps. Shortly after, Rossi also showed competitive pace. Around ten minutes into the session, Mitani suffered a violent highside while pushing to improve his time; the crash forced him to stop early, though fortunately without any physical consequences, as confirmed by medical checks.
Rossi continued until the chequered flag, consistently lowering his lap times. Two of his fastest laps were cancelled due to yellow flags caused by other riders’ crashes, but his final valid attempt temporarily granted him direct access to Q2. However, after a review, race direction reinstated several deleted laps for other riders, moving Rossi out of Q2 by just six hundredths of a second. Both he and Mitani will therefore start from Q1.

Saturday, October 4th

Partly cloudy weather for FP2, with the rain predicted in previous days fortunately staying away. The morning session was used by Zen Mitani to regain confidence with the track after Friday’s crash, without pushing or attempting a true time attack. Riccardo Rossi, on the other hand, continued to work on the bike setup after a solid Day 1, focusing on the final adjustments ahead of qualifying.

The track was cooler than on Friday due to partial cloud cover, forcing riders to lap at slightly slower times. Zen Mitani opted for a single run throughout the qualifying session, managing to limit the damage despite pain in his hand from the earlier crash. Although he will start from the back of the grid, the gap to the leaders remains small, leaving room for a possible comeback. Riccardo Rossi performed better, narrowly missing out on Q2: his best lap was compromised in the final sector by traffic on track, denying him a realistic chance at topping the session.

Sunday, October 5th

A challenging race right from the start for Riccardo Rossi, who dropped to the back of the pack after contact in the opening meters. Race Direction then handed him a double long lap penalty for an alleged jump start. A better start for Zen Mitani, who tried to recover positions in the early laps by making the most of his bike’s potential.

After serving both penalties, Riccardo began his comeback with a solid race pace, managing to close in on the group ahead in the second half of the race. Shortly before mid-distance, Mitani also received a long lap penalty for cutting a corner during a battle in the points, but his race came to an early end on lap eleven due to a crash.

Rossi continued his charge until the checkered flag, recovering several positions and finishing 18th, slowed only by the time lost during the penalties. A solid performance overall, confirming his good race pace and leaving positive signs ahead of the final rounds of the season.

Comments

Riccardo Rossi, disappointed by his mistake, remains aware of his potential:
“It’s a real shame about this race. I was feeling very good with the bike and had the pace to be further ahead. Unfortunately, I made a mistake with a jump start and paid the price by losing the leading group with the long laps.”

Zen Mitani’s thanks to the Team:
“I was feeling fast and making up positions. I was close to the points zone, but unfortunately these things can happen when you’re racing, I’m sorry about how the race ended. I want to thank the team so much for all the work we’ve done together and for this opportunity!”