Mesa has been hovering around the podium all season, putting in consistently solid performances to sit in about 5th or 6th place throughout the end of the season, but at CotA, he battled a field of ICE vehicles in 102F degree heat on a long track with 20 corners, and put in a second place finish on the
“Stefano got off to an amazing start into second and then third place, and then held his own until a red flag forced him back to the pits; he did even better as soon as the action resumed, staying in podium contention,” Energica said in a press release. They made the executive decision to not do a second qualifying round, in order to preserve the battery for the afternoon’s race. Mesa had handled the track well in the first qualifying round, and the team felt no need to make him do it again in that heat.