Qualifying Race: 20th
Race 1: 20th
Race 2: 13th
Overall GP: 17th
A very tough weekend in the Sardinian sand is behind me. I simply struggled with my speed and confidence in the deep sand all weekend, and it showed that I was lacking both preparation and race experience in these conditions after spending very little time riding sand over the past year.
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The weekend actually started quite positively. During Free Practice and Time Practice, the track was still relatively flat with a firmer base, and I felt fairly comfortable on the bike. However, as the weekend went on, the track became deeper, rougher and more bottomless, making it increasingly difficult for me.
In the Qualifying Race, I got a poor start and never found my rhythm. I spent a lot of energy without making any real progress and eventually finished 20th after a frustrating race.
For Sunday, we made some major changes to the bike, and the feeling immediately improved. A 10th place in warm-up gave me a bit more confidence heading into the races.
Race 1 was another difficult one. After a poor start, I spent the entire race stuck behind other riders and couldn’t work my way forward. I never found any flow, used far too much energy, and simply didn’t ride anywhere near the level I expect from myself. I finished 20th, and honestly, it was a race I’m not proud of.
Race 2 started with another poor start, and to make things worse, riders crashed in front of me in the first corner, leaving me with a lot of ground to make up. The opening laps still weren’t great, but then, almost from one lap to the next, something clicked. I finally started to find my rhythm in the sand and began to “crack the code.”
From that point on, I was able to put together consistent, competitive lap times while many others started to fade. I fought my way from outside the top 20 to finish 13th, which was at least a positive way to end the weekend.
There’s no doubt I need to improve in the sand. The lack of preparation before this race became very clear, and that’s something I have to work on before the next sand GP. Fortunately, there is a long gap until then, so the focus now shifts back to the hard-pack races ahead.
A huge thank you to everyone who continues to support me through the good weekends and the difficult ones. We’ll regroup, learn from this, and come back stronger next weekend in Trentino, Italy.