The sixteen year old claimed his second podium trophy in a row after ruling the opening fixture in Holland three weeks ago. The rutty and compact hard-pack of Pietramurata at Arco – home of the Grand Prix of Trentino in northern Italy – was a different kind of test and Hofer needed to recover from two mediocre starts both on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to post a 4-3 scorecard.

The Austrian was again a fierce sight on the KTM 125 SX. In the first race he made a mockery of Pietramurata’s notorious difficulty for overtaking by flying from a first lap position of 17th to reach 4th spot. On Sunday, and on a damper terrain, he again had to find his way through; going from 13th to 3rd to stand a clear 3rd overall and setting the fastest lap of the sprint. Rene defends a six point lead at the top of the standings over fellow KTM rider Emil Weckman.

Hofer: “I had the fastest time in my Practice group which gave me the first gate pick but I made a mess of both starts and had to work up through the field in both races, but I’m happy with my riding. I was the fastest on track but I just didn’t get the starts. It wasn’t easy to overtake and it was quite muddy in the second moto but I was happy with how I could recover. Now I’m looking forward to Kegums.”

Didi Lacher, Team Manager: “The weekend started well and Rene was fastest in his group. In the first moto start he had a good jump out of the gate but started to wheelie and had to close the throttle. He then had a difficult time coming through the other riders and he ran out of laps. Fourth place was OK. The track was very different today and had been heavily watered: it was very one-line. He took it a little easy in the beginning because it was very slippery but when he had a slightly clearer track he had great lap-times and was nearly four seconds faster than the leaders. He almost made second place but again just ran out of time. Overall he did well considering the starts and we know now where we need to work.”

The KTM Junior Team will have to wait a month before the third EMX125 fixture of eight in 2018. The Grand Prix of Latvia at Kegums on May 13th will see Hofer, Lacher and the crew back in action with the red plate.

Original Source[ KTM ]

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