Editorial Note: Americans Kensei Matsudaira (2-2) and Mahdi Salem (DNF-3) both finished on the Moto4 Latin Cup podium at Interlagos, Brazil. American Ulises Weyrauch finished 6th in both races and American Aidan Hancock finished 12th in both races. 

Team Roberts Rider Kensei Matsudaira Takes Double Podiums in Moto4 Latin Cup Round 2 in Brazil

Fresh off his MotoAmerica Talent Cup race victory at the Circuit of the
Americas last month with MotoGP, Team Roberts rider Kensei Matsudaira
continued his podium streak by taking two 2nd-place finishes this
weekend at Round 2 of the FIM Moto4 Latin Cup held at Interlagos Circuit
in São Paulo, Brazil.

Kensei started the weekend strong on Friday, finishing all sessions in
both dry and wet conditions in P2, less than a second off the local
Brazilian rider topping the sessions. Kensei finished Q1 in 2nd, 0.1
seconds from P1.

After a red-flag during Q2 on Saturday cut short his qualifying effort,
Kensei lined up for the two races starting 4th on the grid.

In race 1, Kensei fought in the front group from the beginning, with the
3-rider group eventually breaking away from the rest of the field.
Kensei took over the lead on the final lap of the race heading into the
final sector, and with a flurry of position changes in the final corner
it was a 3-way photo finish with Kensei taking 2nd place, just 0.04
seconds behind the winner.

Race 2 on Sunday was a similar affair, with a 4-rider front group
breaking away from the rest of the field with Kensei leading the charge
for a significant part of the race. Once again he tried to manage the
gap and draft in the final run to the finish line, but again crossed the
line in 2nd place, 0.05 seconds behind the race winner.

Kensei was disappointed with the results of the races, but leaves Brazil
with the track lap record at Interlagos Circuit sitting 2nd in the
championship, just 8.5 points behind the early points leader.
“Honestly I can’t be happy getting 2nd in both races when the win was
just within reach, but looking on the bright side I’m the only rider
with 3 podiums out of 3 races so far and I think I’ve shown my speed at
both tracks so far in all conditions so that gives me plenty of
confidence for the future. It’s still very early in the season, I will
definitely keep pushing and start getting those wins that I’ve been
working so hard for.”

Arney Wick, Team Roberts Co-Principal:

“Once again, Kensei making a strong statement in the 2nd round of the
Moto4 Latin Cup series. As close as every finish has been for him thus
far, it seems as though it is only a matter of time that he breaks free
from the pack and puts an exclamation point on his full potential. Time
will tell of course but spirits are certainly high for the time being.”

The next round on the Moto4 Latin Cup calendar will be held at San
Nicolás Circuit in Argentina on June 19-21.

Before that, Kensei will be back in action next week with Team Roberts
at Road Atlanta in Georgia for round 2 of the MotoAmerica Talent Cup,
where he will competing on the Team Roberts Krämer APX-350 MA.

Note: Only Matsudaira’s team sent us a press release and photos, but we found the following two photos on Salem’s Facebook page.