Senna Agius earns praise from Intact GP after refusing to retire from the Silverstone Moto2 race.
While much of the attention was on Manuel Gonzalez’s last-lap faux pas in the Silverstone Moto2 Grand Prix, team-mate and fellow title contender Senna Agius took the chequered flag in a lowly 20th place.
Agius, tipped to join MotoGP with Tech3 KTM next season, initially made progress from eleventh on the grid before suddenly dropping to 18th on lap three.
Intact GP team manager Jürgen Lingg later explained that Agius had been left with “no chance” after suffering a gear-shifting problem.
Nonetheless, the Australian chose to battle on to the finish.
“Unfortunately, Senna had a shifting problem very early on, which left him with no chance,” Lingg said.
“That’s a shame for him, because he was feeling really good.
“Still, we have great respect for his determination to finish the race. That was fantastic of him.”
Agius, who left Silverstone third in the World Championship, 61 points behind Gonzalez, confirmed:
“Unfortunately, we had a technical problem. That made it difficult to keep going, but I decided not to give up, even though the race was more or less over for me.
“I just tried to stay in the mix, avoid making mistakes, and see what we could still achieve to make the best of it.
“As I said, I decided not to retire, and I’m proud to have finished the race.
“The weekend at Silverstone was a bit more difficult.
“We need to understand the problem and make some changes, so it doesn’t happen again, and then start fresh at Aragon, where we know we’ll be fast.
Izan Guevara currently separates the Intact riders with second in the world championship standings.