Despite starting Sunday’s race at the Mugello Circuit brilliantly, Filip Salac finished the Moto2 race in 12^th, while Jake Dixon was 17^th.

For the 3^rd day in succession, the fabulous Mugello Circuit was bathed in sunshine with track temperatures reaching 49 degrees for the 9^th Moto2 race of the season.

The grandstands surrounding the fast, technical 5.25km track were packed out on race day, with 84,625 in attendance.

The heat made tyre choice difficult. While the majority of the field chose Pirelli’s soft front tyre, Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Jake Dixon and Filip Salac opted for the medium.

Jake Dixon, 17^th

Launching from 14^th, Jake had a strong start, and gained a place into Turn 1. But it soon became apparent the Briton didn’t feel comfortable.

Suffering from a lack of feeling overall, Jake was unable to react as he dropped back to 17^th by the chequered flag.

This result means Jake now sits 5^th in the championship standings with 85 points.

“That was a terrible race. I don’t really know what to say. I have zero feeling right now. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t there. I couldn’t ride fast today and it feels like I’ve lost all ability to ride a motorbike. I like Mugello and have finished on the podium here before. Yet I couldn’t even get inside the top 15 today. I don’t know what to do. But yeah, I’m really looking forward to going home now and resetting. That will be important because Assen is a track that I like a lot. Hopefully we can get some feeling and confidence back and aim to fight inside the top ten there. That’s all we can do right now.”

Filip Salac, 12^th

Starting 16^th, Filip got a super launch off the line and exited the 1^st corner in 12^th. He then gained another 2 places in quick succession to sit 10^th at the close of lap 1.

The 23-year old was on a charge early on. By lap 6 he had climbed to 5^th. Yet he soon started encountering pain in his neck after yesterday’s crash which led to him dropping to 12^th at the flag.

The Czech rider’s result puts him 11^th in the world standings with 52 points.

“I had a good start and came through from P16 to P5 really early. I had good pace, was clearly fast enough and was already thinking about a good result. But I had neck pain from the crash yesterday. I was just thinking about stopping as I couldn’t focus 100% and was in quite a bit of discomfort. We did a good job with the team this weekend, and were strong from Friday. It’s a real shame that we crashed yesterday and hit my neck. I feel sorry for the team about this as the potential was there but I can’t wait for the next race because I’m really, really strong.”