As the Moto3™ World Championship winning team in 2015, everyone was expecting the trio of Leopard Racing riders to hit the ground running in 2016. But a move to KTM machinery made for a tough start to the year, the team and riders still finding their way with the Austrian brand early in the season. Slowly but surely Andrea Locatelli (Leopard Racing) has progressed, improving race-by-race. From the start of the weekend the Italian was feeling strong and on Saturday at the GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland he took second place on the grid, his best Qualifying result to date. What followed on Sunday was a thrilling ride in the wet, unable to match Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda Team Asia) but producing a mature ride to avoid any unnecessary risk and defeating a few veterans of the class in the process.
Locatelli crossed the line 11 seconds behind Pawi to take his first ever Grand Prix podium. The result was of little surprise to his team after he achieved fourth in Argentina, in similarly treacherous conditions. 20 points for second place boosts ‘Loka’ to 11th in the championship, tied on points with teammate Joan Mir (Leopard Racing). Pawi is tenth in the championship and only four points ahead of the Italian, a top ten finish in 2016 is a real possibility for Locatelli.
Andrea Locatelli: “It’s been a great weekend for me! We were on it from our arrival here and yesterday we had a good qualifying. With the weather this morning, there is always so much uncertainty, but after a good warm-up I was confident. During the race I put it all on the line, it was hard because the more and more rain fell the worse the asphalt got. I was focused and I kept pushing and achieved the first podium of my career. I dedicate this result to my family, to my friends and my fans.”