12 May 2022 – Le Mans – France

After injuring two vertebrae two months ago, we are very happy to announce that our John will be back on track this weekend, which will take place on the historic track of Le Mans.

John took part in the first Grand Prix, held in Qatar and on that occasion, at his first race riding the Husqvarna, he crossed the finish line in fifth position. Due to the injury John unfortunately had to miss the next five grands prix, so it will take some time for John to recover his best condition.

On the other side of the pits, we have to remember the excellent progression shown by Ayumu in these last Grands Prix, in which our Japanese driver gained two thirds, a fourth and a sixth place. In particular in the last Grand Prix, which was held at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, Ayumu started from the last row and also had to serve a Long Lap Penalty. In fact the Race Direction penalized our rider, for an episode that occurred during free practice 3. Ayumu did not lose heart and with an incredible race pace, he made a great comeback, which brought him into the lead group shortly after half of the race. Unfortunately, in the last laps the tires, worn by the necessary comeback, did not allow him to be incisive during braking. Ayumu still performed a great feat, as he managed to recover twenty positions and finished sixth, less than a second away from the winner.

The weekend that we are going to experience will take place on the track of Le Mans, very famous for the Endurance races, which are held on it. The Bugatti is run clockwise, has a length of 4185 m and has 11 curves, 5 left and 9 right. The longest straight is the start, which measures about 674 meters.

Here are the statements of the drivers and our Team Owner Max Biaggi.

AYUMU SASAKI : “I am very excited to start another weekend in Le Mans. Jerez’s Grand Prix was very good. Considering the penalty from Saturday, we managed to finish in P6 and we showed our great potential and our speed again. So hopefully we can put everything together without any mistakes in the weekend. Hopefully we can have decent qualifying and show the results of our great work. As I said earlier, we have already shown our speed, but the results really have not come yet during this season. I achieved two podiums, but I never got to really fight for the win. Even when we fought, we were not close enough, so I hope we can achieve the first victory. It’s early to say that, but I really want to fight for the win, I am very motivated and hopefully we can do a great weekend.”

JOHN MCPHEE : “It’s so nice to be heading to LeMans to race again. It’s been a hard few weeks of rehab but now the Dr’s seem happy with my progress and have allowed me to return. It feels like a long time since I last rode in Qatar so the excitement is high but we will take each session by session to feel my way back in.”

MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “Finally in this Grand Prix we are back to line up both our drivers. It is the first year, since the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing participates in the world championship, that we have two very strong drivers in our team, so we can not wait to see them back on track. The first race, held in Qatar, without the technical problem of Ayumu would have allowed us to put both our drivers in the Top Six, demonstrating the great potential of the team. Obviously, it will be necessary to take into account the fact that John missed 5 Grands Prix, so it will take time to recover his automatisms.”

Statistics

The Moto3 race, which took place last year in Le Mans, was won by S.Garcia, who preceded F. Salac and R. Rossi. The fastest lap in the race was obtained by R. Rossi, with a time of 1’50.822 and an average of 135.9 Km/h. 1’47.407 is the time with which A. Migno gained pole.

John on this track scored a victory in 2019 and a fourth place last year. A fifth place is the best result of Ayumu on this circuit, obtained in 2021.

The All Time Lap Record from 2020 belongs to J. Masia, who got the time of 1’41.399, at the average of 148.5 km/h. This performance also represents the Best Pole. C. Vietti in 2020 scored the Best Race Lap, with a time of 1’41.690 and an average of 148.1 km/h. Finally 227.1 km/h is the Top Speed that was reached in 2021 by K.Toba.

Schedule – Local Time (GMT +2)

Below you can find the schedule to follow our drivers on track.

Thursday 12 May
17:00 – Press Conference

Friday 13 May
09:00 – 09:40 – FP1 Moto3
13:15 – 13:55 – FP2 Moto3

Saturday 14 May
09:00 – 09:40 – FP3 Moto3
12:35 – 12:50 – Q1 Moto3
13:00 – 13:15 – Q2 Moto3

Sunday 15 May
09:00 – 09:10 – Warm-Up Moto3
11:00 – Race Moto3