Taiyo Aksu made his world championship debut in the opening round of the all new FIM Sportbike World Championship in Portugal this past weekend – narrowly missing a points scoring finish in Saturday’s opening race after an impressive display on his first ever ride at the undulating Portimão circuit.
The build up to the new season began with a short shakedown with his AG Motorsport Italia squad in Italy prior to a full day of testing at the Portuguese circuit that saw the Australian rider improve throughout as he got to grips with his all-new Yamaha R7 machine.
Friday saw Free Practice and the sole grid deciding session with Taiyo easily qualifying after his first Superpole experience.
Saturday’s opening eleven lap encounter saw the #89 immediately gaining places prior to red flag following an incident on track. The race was then restarted and run over five laps. The shortened race was another new experience for Taiyo, who remained focused and unphased, racing hard to finish a credible seventeenth at the flag.
Sunday saw similar weather conditions and with a full race distance of eleven laps, the Aussie teen was once again in the mix. Carving his way into the top twenty before half distance, he is mid to late race pace was as fast as those within the point scoring positions. An unfortunate crash in the closing stages put Aksu out of contention but optimistic of further improvements next time out.
The second round of WorldSPB takes place in three weeks at the iconic Cathedral of Speed – the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands.
Taiyo Aksu: “Overall I’m happy with how the weekend went. It was my first world championship event and whilst it didn’t end how we wanted it to we showed some strong potential and what we are capable of with really strong race pace, especially in race two. I crashed on the last lap fighting for points which just fires me up even more than I already am for Assen. I will test before the next round and having a bit more experience will definitely help. It was my first ever time in Portimão and my first time on the bike other than a shakedown so I can’t be too disappointed. I really enjoyed the experience – it’s a dream come true for me, and to be here with this amazing team makes it even better. To be fighting inside the top twenty in both races, against people with so much experience at this level than me was something I didn’t expect. I want to thank the whole team and everyone who has made this possible. See you all in the Netherlands!” |
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