Czech competitor Filip Salač finished in an excellent fourth place in the opening race of the season in the Grand Prix of Portugal. This is his second best position in the category. He finished in second place once last year. How does the 21-year-old rider rate the race?
“I am very satisfied, I did not expect this at all, even though I started from pole position. It wasn’t easy at all, I was very nervous. But that would probably be everyone who would start in the first race from the first place,Salač began his racing evaluation.
“My strategy was not to push completely in the first laps because I didn’t want to overheat the rear tire. I didn’t want to make a rookie mistake like I did last year in Qatar. I didn’t want to fall in the beginning” the Mladá Boleslav native described the racing strategy for Nova TV.
At one point, he dropped to sixth place and could not overtake the rider in front of him. “I had big problems overtaking Arenas, even from the slipstream. Then I succeeded and every time I also managed to overtake the competitor in front of me,” added Salač, who scored 13 points in the world championship.
“But I’m happy, it’s my second best result in the category. And I dare say it was my best race in Moto2, maybe in the dry and in my career. I scored super points and gained a lot of new experience,” the only Czech competitor in the MotoGP carousel is aware.
Salač had contact with Vietti in the third round. “It was a normal racing incident. I gave him space, so he sent it there. I was scared, but luckily I noticed him, otherwise I would have fallen. If this mistake hadn’t happened, I think I could have stuck with Canet and Acosta. But those are ifs. I’m more than happy,” Salač described.
“Thank you to the team that took perfect care of me throughout the weekend. I was still in the top 5. I think we did more work than we expected,” Salač concluded.
Salač finished just fourth in the race:
TN.cz
