P12 ‘seriously under our expectations’ for Rinaldi

Double WorldSBK race winner at Misano, Michael Rinaldi, says race one at Donington ‘was seriously under our expectations’, as the Italian finishes P12 after starting eighth.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Donington Park WorldSBK 2021
Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Donington Park WorldSBK 2021
© Gold and Goose

Michael Rinaldi found WorldBSK race one at Donington Park particularly tough, as the two-time Misano race winner went backwards from the start. 

After salvaging P8 in qualifying, Rinaldi severely lacked pace in the drying conditions as he finished nearly a minute down on race winner Toprak Razgatlioglu. 

Ducati have seemed to struggle more than most this weekend - highlighted by the top Ducati of Axel Bassani finishing only tenth. 

Confidence wasn’t an issue coming into the weekend for Rinaldi following his brilliant home round of Misano, but winning races and then finishing ‘many seconds’ behind is unacceptable, said the 25 year-old.

Rinaldi added: "It was a difficult race today. It was seriously under our expectations. We won in Misano and arrived here full of confidence but seriously I couldn’t ride in the way I want and we are missing something. 

"The comments are the same from Aragon so we need to understand what’s happening when we are not in the right conditions. 

"You cannot win races and then the race after take so many seconds, so something is missing now and what we can do is only work hard because we already showed our potential." 

Rinaldi’s team-mate Soctt Redding also had a disastrous race one as he crashed out from sixth place on lap three. 

Heading into today’s double races, Rinaldi sits fifth in the championship - 18 points behind Alex Lowes who claimed a podium in race one. 

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