The Catalan Grand Prix moves to September to kick off the second half of the season with Alonso and Yamanaka ready to shine

The Catalan Grand Prix, which for the first time since 1998 will be held in September, kicks off the second half of the Championship, a final sprint of 10 Grands Prix in less than three months, on three different continents and with a final stop in Valencia. Dani Holgado arrives in Barcelona (and will leave Barcelona) as leader, with an advantage of 26 points over Ayumu Sasaki and 37 points over Deniz Öncü. All three were on the podium in Austria and stand out in the overall standings, although Iván Ortolá, fifth at the Red Bull Ring, is still close to them. For Jaume Masià, the DNF in Austria, together with the crash at Silverstone, means that he is 36 points behind the leader. He is in fifth position, but already 52 points away, more than two races off. There is still time to recover, the whole second half of the World Championship, but two back-to-back races and two more triple-headers in a row will mean that any mistake will be very costly.

Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team returns to race at home for the first time after the Spanish GP held in May, with the aim of shining once again. There, in Jerez, Colombian rider David Alonso took his first World Championship podium on a day in which his teammate, Ryusei Yamanaka, led the race. Now, both compete in Barcelona, where Alonso has never been on the podium since his years in the European Talent Cup (his best result is a fourth place in the Moto3 Junior World Championship in 2021) and where Yamanaka has a ninth position as his best performance. Alonso and Yamanaka face the Catalan Grand Prix with good feelings after their recent races and will work to succeed their Moto2 teammate Izan Guevara on top of the Barcelona podium.

David Alonso: “I know this track and we will try to take advantage of it. I will work from the first moment on my own to find my pace. This will help us to get a better grid position and have more options in the race. If we can be fast ridding on my own and get straight into Q2, it will be easier to fight in the front group on Sunday.”

Ryusei Yamanaka: “Barcelona is like a home Grand Prix for me because I live there during the season. I have ridden quite a lot at this circuit and I am confident. I like the track and I know the keys to go fast. We have to work hard from the first practice. I want to start from a better grid position and get a good result in the race. It will probably be a race in group, so we will have to be prepared for a long race”.