It was another successful weekend at Thruxton for the T3 Racing trio of Luke Jones, Alex Olsen and Aleix Aulestia. Jones qualified on pole for the opening Motorpoint British Supersport Race followed by two front running rides while team-mate Olsen enjoyed another double victory in the Supersport EVO class. In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 category, Spanish rider Aulestia battled through from 17th on the grid to finish in a commendable tenth place.
Following last year’s washout at Thruxton, it looked like qualifying and the opening Supersport race would be in danger of going the same way when torrential rain descended on the circuit Saturday morning. With a wet qualifying session, Acumens/Ace Cafe rider Luke Jones quickly set about setting the pace, taking pole position by 0.319s. In the EVO class Power Projects Racing rider Alex Oulson was unable to match his fifth place position he achieved in dry practice, eventually qualifying down in 16th. Young Spanish star Aleix Aulestia had a tougher time during practice and qualifying, once again hampered by dreaded arm pump issues, eventually qualifying in 17th.
In the opening Supersport encounter, the T3 Racing duo of Jones and Olsen enjoyed a double podium, taking second and first in their classes respectively. Taking a superb holeshot, Jones entered an enthralling race long battle with Gowland, McConnell and Seeley. With the foursome trading places and paint throughout the race, Jones found himself in fourth place entering the final corner when Gowland ran wide, allowing him to nab third place – which was later promoted to second when McConnell was docked places following an alleged yellow flag incident. Despite his lowly starting position and a poor start, PPR’s Alex Olson fought his way from the back of the EVO class to claim a stunning seventh win of the season.
In the second Supersport race on Sunday Jones once again ran at the front, scrapping for the lead with Gowland, McConnell, Mossey and Seeley. An unfortunate incident with Gowland forced Luke to run wide to avoid a collision which saw him pushed back to eighth. Quickly pushing back through the riders in front, eventually crossing the line in fourth. In the EVO class, Alex once again dominated to take an eighth win and a commanding 120 point lead in the Championship.
Bouncing back from his arm pump problem, Aleix Aulestia was able fight through from his 17th place grid position to finish a commendable tenth. He will now return to Spain to undergo an operation on his arm pump problems, hopefully returning at Donington Park.
Speaking after the weekend, Luke Jones said, “We have to be very careful with our budget so during qualifying we threw in an old rear wet, deciding we’d use that to get up to speed before changing tyres. Oddly enough the bike felt great right from the off and I found myself holding pole position for a fair amount of laps! We put in a new rear tyre towards the end and managed to go even faster and secure pole!
We had a pair of good races here this weekend and I’m confident that first win is going to come soon! This is a really tough Championship so I was really pleased with a second in the opening race. Unfortunately in the second outing I wasn’t expecting Graham to go for the brakes quite so early so I was forced out wide and sent back to eighth. I knew I had the pace to match the front guys so I just got my head down and chipped away. I’ll definitely take a fourth place, but I’m a bit disappointed not to be back on the podium.”
Alex Olsen said, “I wasn’t best pleased with qualifying, particularly after running fifth overall at the end of dry practice. I got a poor start in the first race and definitely had my work cut out, but fortunately the T3 guys gave me a fantastic bike and I battled through to take the win.
The second race was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me though. I claimed the fastest lap in the EVO class at 1:17.4 which was just 0.2s slower than the fastest Supersport lap at 1:17.2! It was great to secure another win and extend my lead even further in the Championship.”
Aleix Aulestia said, “I’ve been disappointed with my results from the past few rounds due to the arm pump, which has become a real problem. I’m going back to Barcelona now to have surgery and hopefully be back stronger at Donington. That said, Thruxton was a good weekend. Qualifying didn’t quite go to plan but it was good to battle through the field in the race and the bike felt fantastic!”
T3 Racing would like to say a special thank you to Premier Velocity, Ace Cafe, Power Projects Racing, Acumen and Scorpion Exhausts.