Beñat Fernandez wins Rookies Cup Le Mans Race 2 with rain masterclass

Beñat Fernandez knew it was his day as soon as he saw the rain and the wet track on Sunday morning at Le Mans.He mastered the 13-lap race in consummate style, helped by the fact that Saturday’s dominant pairing of Brian Uriarte and Hakim Danish went down at the first left-hander.

It was cup points leader Danish who led off the line, but the front wheel of his KTM slid out as he braked for the first left. He went down, taking Uriarte with him. Danish remounted in last place, but 16-year-old Spaniard Uriarte could not as his handlebar was broken.

Incredibly, Danish cut through the field to finish 2nd, so the Malaysian 17-year-old has finished runner-up in all 4 races so far this year, giving him a 23-point advantage over Fernandez in the Cup. Uriarte is another 7 points back in 3rd, having scored 2 victories, but he has also been knocked out of 2 races.

Beñat Fernandez 1st

“I was happy to see it was raining because I know my performance in the wet. I know how to transfer all the weight and that’s so important so you don’t crash,” explained the Spanish 17-year-old.

“I was pushing and I was getting a bit of sliding in turns 3 and 4. But yeah, the last corner was terrible. So I was going very carefully in this corner only. Then in the other corners, I was pushing because also I was seeing a bit of dry patches or at least with less water. So I was balancing the bike with the rear brake and happy to see that I had a good gap over 2nd place late in the race.”

Hakim Danish 2nd

Second place again. In the race, I felt quite good, only in the first lap I had a little crash in the left corner and I was lucky that I could rejoin. I tried to pick up the bike very fast and try to catch the other riders as soon as possible. I managed to stay calm and catch them one by one without having to push too hard.”

“Of course, I wanted to get as many points as possible and I will try and continue like this in the next races, keep the momentum of finishing on the podium and of course, I will win if I can.”

Marco Morelli 3rd

“I’m certainly happier than yesterday,” grinned the 17-year-old Argentine. “It was a good, but difficult race. The track was very slippery, so yeah, I tried to stay on the bike.”

“When someone passed me, I tried to get the line and follow, like when Hakim passed me. That’s when I started to ride faster, but then I lost him and Singhapong caught me. Then I saw Carter (Thompson) crash and Singhapong was in front of me. I said, well, I need to try for sure, I need to get on the podium, I can’t miss today.”

Kiattisak Singhapong 4th

“Today I had a good feeling,” enthused the 19-year-old Thai. “The start today was so-so, but I tried to relax. I could do that so then I tried to overtake a little bit and follow, follow. I was enjoying the race, feeling good on the bike and I wanted to get on the podium, but just had a slide and ran a bit wide and Marco got past me at the end.”

Guillem Planques 5th

“It was a good ride, I made a good start and got to third,” explained the 17-year-old Frenchman. “Then I crashed but managed to get the bike going again, I was a long way back but I managed to find my confidence again, honestly I don’t know how, but I felt good on the bike and managed to overtake many riders and get a good finish.”

Lucas Brown 6th

“Super happy,” smiled the British 17-year-old. “I always go well in the wet so I was starting at the back and just had to get my head down. I think I took it a bit too chill for the first laps, I should have pushed a little bit more.”

“The times, in the end, I think the front guys were doing 58s. I think my personal best was like a 59 high. So if I had been near the 59s at the start, then I would have dropped into the 58s I think. I felt the grip, kept improving the times, which was good.”

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