November 2nd saw Rory make his first Moto3 race debut at the Bennetts sponsored Race of the Year event at Mallory Park, Leics on-board the RS Racing KTM RC250R machine of Ryan Saxelby.
The Moto3/GP125 grid consisted of 16 riders, mainly BSB Motostar Championship riders, and would once again be a first for Rory at Mallory Park on a new bike in race conditions.
Qualifying/Practice With only one combined qualifying/practise in wet conditions, the first session out on Sunday morning meant Rory had to use the 15 minute session to learn the track conditions and set a fast time. He went out and was on it from the off, consistently putting in lap after lap at the top of the leader board finishing the 15 minute session 0.283 seconds clear and putting himself on pole position in his first ever Moto3 event, just incredible!
Race 1 – (10 laps) – Race 1 was declared a wet race. Rory got a brilliant start and managed to gain a 1.0 sec lead by the end of the first lap and maintained that in the 2nd lap.
Rory said “I felt comfortable with my pace but unfortunately near the end of lap two I lost the front when hard on the brakes going into the hairpin where there was some standing water. I was OK and there wasn’t much damage done and Ryan, my dad and the team managed to get the bike ready for the second race”.
The conditions were tricky going into race 2, a dry line was starting to appear most of the way around the circuit but no wider than a tyres width. Exiting the fast first corner at Gerrard’s and all the way down to the chicane at Edwina’s it was still really wet and as this is an important part of the track for a good lap it was decided too dangerous to go out on slicks and so the decision was made to stay on wet tyres.
Race 2 – (10 laps) – Rory once again took the lead following another brilliant start and was pulling a second a lap over the next rider. By lap four he had over a 4 second lead but as the track now had a complete dry line, the tyres were starting to move around due to excess heat. The gap to 2nd started to drop lap by lap from there on and after leading for 8 laps Rory was finally caught and overtaken by a GP125 machine which handled the changing conditions better than the heavier Moto3. Rory finished the race in 2nd place overall and 1st in class.
Overall a fantastic and encouraging debut ride in the Moto3 class for Rory and a great finale to what’s been another incredible and exciting year! Thanks to all sponsors, friends and family for your mega support.
Rory said “I really enjoyed racing the KTM RC250R Moto3 and really can’t wait now for the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup next year where I will be riding a similar KTM all season.”