MotoGP Austria: Skinner ‘feeling good, these opportunities don’t come often’

Rory Skinner leaves Austria happy with a great finish to end his run of two Moto2 wildcards with the American Racing Team.

Qualifying just a second and a half off the outright pole time on his first visit to the Red Bull Ring since 2017 in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, Skinner launched from 31st on his second outing in Moto2.

Having faced a challenging Saturday, the Scot turned it around on race day to bring it home just 0.2 seconds off the top 20, fighting the hugely experienced Simone Corsi all the way to the line.

“I feel quite good after that to be honest,” Skinner said on Sunday evening. “Yesterday was a tough day. I just felt quite mentally crowded - a lot going on and to take in, jumping from BSB back to Moto2 etc. It was a lot to take in and I just couldn’t ride how I wanted to ride and there was only so much I could take into my head.

“I had a good chat on Saturday night though with the sport psychologist I’ve been working with and made some progress and felt a lot better coming into today.

“These sorts of opportunities don’t come about very often, so in the future I know I’d regret it if I didn’t spend my time enjoying it as much as possible and spent it stressing! So I came into today with the main aim of enjoying my last day on a Moto2 bike as I don’t know when the next time will be.

“I’m really happy with that race. It’s nice to have made some progress and the consistency was there. At the moment, there’s only so much you can take in riding a Moto2 bike in the amount of time that I’ve been on it. So I’m happy with what we’ve done, finishing the full race, full distance and let’s see what the next one brings!”