Month: March 2017

Just after landing from the first Grand Prix of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship held in Qatar last weekend, Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz visited Reale Seguros headquarters in Madrid, Spain. Hector Barbera and Loris Baz signed hundreds of autographs and took pictures with all the excited Reale Seguros employees. They also had the chance to chat with the company’s CEO, Ignacio Mariscal, and tell their tales from the opening round of the championship.

Starting from this season, Reale Seguros is the title sponsor of the Reale Avintia Racing team that, once again, competes with Ducati Desmosedici bikes in the MotoGP class. The goal for the 2017 season is to achieve the team’s first ever podium finish, which Barbera and Baz were close to score on two occasions last season. With the support of Reale Seguros, the team is sure that the dream can come true.

“For Reale Seguros, this is another step forward in our commitment to sport and its values of effort, continuous improvement and teamwork. When this opportunity arose, we didn’t hesitate and now we are very excited to be part of this young and competitive team, Reale Avintia Racing, which surely will bring us a lot of joy this season. Our riders, Hector Barbera and Loris Baz, are great professionals and we wish them great success. They can count on all our support on top of the big potential they already have.”

“It is an honour to have Reale Seguros as our title sponsor this season. Thanks to their support and the continuity of Grupo Avintia, we can proudly call ourselves one of the most ‘safe’ and ‘solid’ teams in the championship. We grew steadily since we started our adventure in MotoGP, and after fighting during the first years, we won the Open Class in 2015 and we were in the premier class ‘top 10’ at the end of last season. We also have the support of Ducati for another year and together with Reale Seguros, we will continue to grow fast.”

Reale Avintia Racing riders Loris Baz and Hector Barbera finished the first Grand Prix of the season scoring championship points. Loris Baz did a great start from 14^th place of the grid and he was eleventh with just three laps to go. But arm-pump problems on his right forearm prevented him from defending his position when Jorge Lorenzo arrived. This race was not easy for Baz, who just before the start received the news of the death of fellow French rider Adrien Protat. And after the loss of Anthony Delhalle earlier this month it was not easy for Baz.

It was not easy race for Hector Barbera either, because he came to Qatar only 20 days after his collarbone injury, and the lack of testing and kilometres at Losail forced him to start the race with an unknown set up. But the Reale Avintia Racing Spanish rider did a great comeback starting from the 20^th to finish 13^th and with two points tonight in Qatar.

“It was not an easy race, but at the end the result was good for us. I started the season in the points and, the most important for me is that I crossed the finish line 20 seconds behind the leader, and this is the best we have done since I’m racing with this team. I had an arm-pump problem in my right forearm from the beginning of the race. We have to find out what happened because maybe it was the brake that was too hard, or maybe that I was losing the front almost in every corner, but in the final laps I was not able to fight with Lorenzo as I could not even open full gas on the straight. But overall I’m happy, after all the delays and cancellations this weekend, we started the season with a good result, that I want to dedicate to Anthony and Adrien.”

“It was a difficult weekend. I arrived here only twenty days after my collarbone injury and I had not enough strength in my left arm. I tried to set up the bike in the best way, but we had no time; the conditions have been changing during the weekend and yesterday we lost one track day because of the rain. Finally we had two practice sessions, warm-up and we started the race with a set up completely new for me because we didn’t test it before. The team did a great job during the weekend, they have been patient and they understood that I was not in my best form, but finally we were able to get some points. I want to thank all the people that made this possible. Now I have to work hard and think ahead to Argentina, where I hope to do better.”

The forecasted heavy rains finally arrived today at the Losail International Circuit and the qualifying sessions in all three classes were cancelled due to the track conditions. Tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix starting grid is now based on the combined standings from yesterday’s practice sessions, with Reale Avintia Racing riders Loris Baz and Hector Barbera in 14^th and 20^th position.

During the evening, the organization tried everything they could to keep the Grand Prix program running as scheduled, but although some parts of the track were completely dry, there was a lot of water in several other areas of the 5,4km circuit. Finally, the Race Direction made the decision to cancel the Qualifying Practice in all three classes.

“There is not much to say about today. We spent the evening waiting for the news of the Race Direction, but finally it was not possible to go out, neither in wet or dry conditions. I think they have made the best decision. The track was not in good conditions to ride our bikes and we will see what happens tomorrow.”

“It’s a pity because for me it would have been important to be on the bike today. I lost the three-day test because of my injury and it would have helped to do more kilometres on this track before the race. But it was dangerous to go out in these conditions, and safety comes first. So we have to accept the decision of the Race Direction.”

Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz kept working in the second night of free practice at the floodlit Losail International Circuit. The forecasted rain came just before the action started, and although it was dry for FP2, the circuit surface got really slippery compared to yesterday night. With this conditions the teams had to work on the set-up because yesterday settings were not useful any more.

Baz and Barbera were not able to improve their pace from the first night at Qatar, and both lost some places in the combined timesheets. Loris Baz dropped down from sixth to 14^th place with a best lap of 1’56.501 in FP2. While Barbera, who still struggling with his collarbone, also was not able to make a better lap, and his best tonight was 1’56.934.

Both riders expect to improve their feeling during the last free practice session tomorrow night, and then push harder in Q1 to get the best possible position on the grid for the first race of the season. But for sure it will be a tough qualifying session.

“Here the track condition always changes from one day to the next. The rain came this afternoon and we also have strong wind that left a lot of sand in the circuit. We had to change the setting of the bike and also I had to work in my riding style to suit the new conditions, but we didn’t do it so good as some other riders. But in the end has not so bad, my lap times with race tyres are pretty good. In addition I’m not able to use the soft front as in the test, and this complicated things a little more, because we have to adapt the bike to the hard tyre. At the end of FP3 I tried to push harder triying to improve the lap time I did yesterday, but the bike shaked with violence and the airbag system of my leathers activated, so I was not able to complete the lap.”

“It was a difficult day, as things are going worse than expected. Maybe we are behind the others because we didn´t test as much. I simply don´t feel comfortable on the bike and I have to fight it in every corner. As a result, we are more than two seconds off the pace. We have to keep working, because this is not a good result. My collarbone keeps bothering me, maybe I am too careful because of this injury. But our real limit is not the collarbone, it´s our lack of track time on this circuit. Tomorrow we will try to improve the bike in FP4 in order to get the best possible lap time in qualifying. It´s tough when things are not going your way, but we will grit our teeth and keep working hard.”

A new edition of the MotoGP World Championship starts this weekend under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. And this time both Reale Avintia Racing riders, Hector Barbera and Loris Baz will be at Losail for the first race. The Spanish rider was forced to miss the last three-day test of the preseason after breaking his collarbone while training, but after 20 days of hard work with his physiotherapist Jordi Reig, Barbera will arrive to the first race in good shape, but obviously not at his 100%. Even so, he will try to get the best from his Ducati Desmosedici GP16 on Sunday.

Loris Baz heads Qatar at his maximum. Reale Avintia Racing team French rider completed a strong and consistent winter testing program and this weekend he expects to start the season fighting to get some good championship points.

“I arrive to the first race physically reduced, I’m not at my best level and although I have been working hard to recover, in the last 20 days I lost all the weight and cardio training I’ve made during the winter. It was not easy to face this injury, and even more in the way it had happened. But I head the first race in Qatar excited as if I was to start my first World Championship race. Things always happen for a reason, maybe because I was putting too much self-pressure, because I always want to give my best and the winter test were not going as I wanted to. I won’t be at 100%, but I will race without pressure and I will try to enjoy every minute on the bike.”

“I’m really looking forward to start the season. Winter testing was quite positive, we worked really well, the atmosphere in the team is fantastic and I built a good relationship with my new crew chief, so I head Qatar really eager. After the last season where I suffered too much, I’m looking forward to enjoy racing again. This weekend we will see if our work during the winter was useful or if we need to keep working to improve our speed. In the first races you always have big question marks, but also everyone in the team is exited to race, and this is always a great feeling.”

The first free practice session of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship, has been positive for Reale Avintia Racing team. Loris Baz was sixth fastest after in the 45 minutes of the season and he was the second fastest Ducati rider, just 0.017s behind Jorge Lorenzo. This was a great start for the French rider who finished inside the top 10 and, if the rain forecast for tomorrow is right, he will be already in the first Q2 of the season.

The first night at Losail was also positive for Hector Barbera. Obviously his position in the timesheet is not the best, either as his lap time, but after almost one month recovering from a collarbone fracture, and with three days less at this track comparing with his rivals, he had quite good feelings on the bike. Tomorrow, if weather conditions permit, the Reale Avintia Racing team rider expects to continue improving the set up of his Ducati.

“The grip was really bad at the beginning of the session, and the feeling was very different from the test, so we wait a little bit until the track was cleaned. The wind was also stronger than in the test, so we had to find the best braking point on the main straight. We could not test something for the race as my second bike had some issues, but overall I’m really happy because I was fast with the soft tyres. And honestly I did not expect to do this lap time on the first day. This is a good track for Ducati, because are fast on the straight. This is not my case because I’m too tall, but today we demonstrated that this bike is not just fast on straight line.”

“My feeling was quite positive, and although the collarbone obviously hurts under acceleration, braking and changing direction, it is something I can handle. The biggest gap for me was loosing the last test, because the rest of the riders have done three more days and we just had 45 minutes to set up de bike. The electronics are important and my electronic engineer need to know what I need to go faster, but in just one session this is impossible. But I’m happy because with one test less I finished just one second behind the fastest Ducati, and this is something positive. I also spend a lot of time sitting in my garage, I need to keep energy for when I will really need to push hard.”

Reale Avintia Racing rider Loris Baz completed a successful third day of testing at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. This was the last day of the winter test, and Loris finished 17º on the timesheet only 1.2s from the fastest rider, that once again was Maverick Viñales. Baz had really good feeling during the three days of testing and he leaves Qatar satisfied.

He will be back in his bike here at Losail in ten days time to start the new season, and this time his Reale Avintia Racing teammate Hector Barbera will join him in the garage. Barberá was forced to miss this test after breaking his left collarbone, but he will be ready to compete in the first race of 2017.

“These were three positive testing days and I go back home really happy. Mainly because I had good feeling with the bike and we were able to test some interesting things. Today I did my best lap over the three days with the hard rear tyre, and I also improved with the soft one. I think that it was possible to go a little bit faster at the end, but the last front tyre I used was not working as the previous one. Anyway I leave Qatar satisfied, we did a good job and I did not crash here and also in the previous test in Australia. So I think my winter test was quite positive. The fastest riders were really fast, so it is obvious that we can improve even more, but if we compare how we are now with how we were at the end of last season, I think that we did a big step forward. I’m looking forward to start racing!”.

Reale Avintia Racing team rider Loris Baz, completed the second day of testing at Qatar with really positive feeling. 21 of the 42 laps he did today at the 3,34 miles circuit, were a race simulation and Baz finished very happy both with his pace and the performance of the Michelin tyres over the race distance. And although he thinks that it was possible to go slightly faster, he was overall happy with his performance in the second day at Losail International Circuit.

Following the race simulation the Reale Avintia Racing French rider went out again with a set of fresh tyres and pushed for a fast lap, ending the day 15^th on the timesheet with a time of 1’55.808.

“It was another good day at the office and I’m happy. At the beginning the feeling was not so good as yesterday, but we refined the set up of the bike and we were able to improve. Today we worked with the tyres for the race, I think that for us will be the rear hard and the front soft, and we did a race simulation with positive results. Of course I would go faster, but to be my first race simulation I was quite happy with the result. After the simulation I did went out again pushing for a lap time, and I think it was not so bad, because I did it on my own and I was not pushing and tacking risks. I’m very happy because is the first time I enjoy riding the bike for a long time, and for me this is the most positive fact of this test.”

The first of the three days of MotoGP official testing at the Losail International Circuit was really positive for Loris Baz, the only Reale Avintia Racing team representative today at Qatar. His teammate Hector Barbera decided to stay at home last Monday and take more time to recover from his collarbone, after only eight days since his surgical intervention.

Loris Baz felt really comfortable riding his Ducati Desmosedici GP15 from the first time out, and he was in the top ten with two hours remaining. The Reale Avintia Racing French rider did only 31 laps in the opening day at Qatar, as he decided to stop before schedule when the track temperature started to drop down. He had very good feeling with the bike and tomorrow he hopes to improve even more. Baz finished 17^th only 1.3s from Andrea Dovizioso, the fastest today riding the factory Ducati.

“The first day was really good. I did not have such a good feeling with the bike since one year ago and from the first laps I was going fast. Today I did not many laps, but this it is not so bad as we were able to keep some tyres for the next two days. Overall I’m very happy and we need to keep in the same direction tomorrow, try to improve even more and solve the issues we have in some turns, but I’m happy with the feeling I had today. We had not many stuff to test, because the base set up was working from the beginning, so I just tried Michelin tyres and I basically concentrated in getting some feeling with the track. Tomorrow we want to do a race simulation, and we will see how it goes.”