Rory Skinner signed off from his rookie Moto2 campaign with a 21st place finish in Valencia, enjoying a number of on-track battles along the way.
Getting to grips with the Valencian track on his first visit on a Moto2 machine, Rory found his feet in the opening session before improving his previous time by three-tenths to round of Friday in 26th place overall.
Knocking a further half a second off his time in final practice, the 22-year-old OnlyFans American Racing Team rider faced another stereotypically tight Moto2 Q1 session as he missed out on a place in Q2 by seven-tenths to line up 26th on the grid.
Making a stellar start to the race, Rory avoided the opening lap chaos to move into 20th place but an early issue dropped him into 22nd.
Keeping his head down and his powder dry, the Scot chipped away at the gap between himself and the pack ahead before sweeping by Taiga Hada to take 21st as the chequered flag fell on his 2023 season.
Speaking after the race, Rory said: “I felt like I rode quite well over the course of the weekend; I struggled a bit with rear grip in the race and some of the sessions but I’m happy to have brought it home in the last race of the year and I felt like I rode a good race, having some battles. I made a small mistake on lap three or four which set me back a bit but it’s the end of an era for now. Thanks to the American Racing Team for 2023.”