Behind the scenes with Senna Agius throughout his Moto2 debut

Maiden Moto2 wildcard a success for Agius at Red Bull Ring

With Stephanie Redman

17-year-old Senna Agius, from Camden, NSW, recently made his world championship debut with the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team at Round 13 of the MotoGP World Championships in Austria.

Having done a great job on his Moto2 in the FIM JuniorGP World Championship, taking podiums in six of the eight races so far this season, we were hoping a wildcard would be a possibility at some point this year. This would not only give us a gauge on his current level, but also help to gain more experience and continue his growth. So, when the opportunity came to do a fill in ride with such a prestigious team, we of course jumped at it.

When a rider fills in like this, there is a lot to organise in a short period of time, leathers, boots, gloves, logos, bike numbers, uniforms, flights and the list goes on… It is a mammoth effort to get a new rider on the grid and looking the part, but the whole ELF Marc VDS Team did an amazing job. Not only did they make it easy sorting everything, but they also made us feel really welcome, like part of the family.

This level of professionalism and culture within the team made it a much easier transition for Senna to make the step up. The JuniorGP classes are a great stepping stone for the World Championship, however the level of rider and experience is vastly different. Senna was heading into this weekend with the odds stacked against him in a way, as most fill in or wild card riders do. The motorcycle, team and track were all new to him, and Friday morning would be his first experience of it all together.

We had little expectations for the weekend, other than to see where he was at the start, and try to progress from there. First Practice was as you’d imagine, filled with nerves and silly mistakes, seeing Senna finish at the bottom of the time sheet. None of this was unexpected though, the pressure of being on the world stage while trying to figure out the bike and track is no easy task. What was unexpected though, is that despite all this, he was only 2.8 seconds from the fastest time of the session. We were off to a good start.

With a super supportive team and a wealth of knowledge and experience in both his crew chief Gilles Biggot, and data technician Julien Robert, Senna was able to work through the problems as they arose and make adjustments as necessary.

Working closely with his crew he was able to drop 1.3 seconds in FP2 and a further 1.4 seconds in FP3. He was sitting in 25^th position, just 1.1 seconds from the leader in the final free practice session, a significant step forward from where he started the weekend.

The motorcycle had similarities to his bike in CEV, but there were also some great differences, mainly in the way it had to be ridden to produce the lap time. Having data from Sam Lowes, who had put it on pole the previous year, we knew the set-up was in the ballpark, and that the biggest gains would come from Senna’s ability to adapt. The team knew this as well and did an amazing job of helping him to understand the changes he needed to make, while giving him a feeling with the bike that allowed him to do so. 

Senna was in Q1 and with a few more adjustments to what he was doing, being one of the top 4 riders and moving up to Q2 was not out of the question. In the previous 40-minute session the pressure to post a fast time was less, he was able to work through the things on his list and build throughout, but in a 15 minute qualifying this is made all the more difficult. He was a little more nervous for this session than he had been previously, knowing that if he could put it all together, he was in for a shot at Q2. 

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He went out pushing to bank a lap time, and after posting a 1:35.197 on lap 4, a time equivalent to that of his FP3 session but with what seemed twice the effort, he took a lap to regroup and focus on what he needed to do to go fast.

For the remaining laps he built his pace and managed to set a personal best of the weekend, a 1:34.938. This time put him 8^th for the session and just 0.4 off a place in Q2. He was starting 21^st on the gird, just one position behind seasoned veteran Joe Roberts. An outstanding effort that exceeded all our expectations.

The 25-lap race on Sunday was again something different for Senna, this would be the longest race he had competed in, as the JuniorGP races were only 18 laps. This meant managing things like tyre degradation and fuel load would be different to what he knew.

This, along with a few small errors leading to a long lap penalty meant that he wasn’t completely satisfied with the race. He finished in 17^th position, just 6.5 seconds from scoring his first world championship points. And while he looks back now seeing where he could improve, with some perspective he can also see how well he has done.

To ride the weekend, improving session by session and working well with the team, we couldn’t ask for anything more. The Red Bull Ring weekend was like climbing Mt Everest and we were lucky to have some experienced sherpas by our side. While we learned a lot, there is still a long way to go. I feel like we have only just made it to base camp, but we will take everything from this weekend and continue to build in Misano this week. 

Massive thanks go to the entire ELF Marc VDS team for getting behind Senna and giving this young Aussie a shot. Now on to Misano…

Red Bull Ring Moto2 Race Results