Month: June 2017

Reale Avintia Racing rider Hector Barbera dominated the second free practice session in wet conditions this afternoon at the resurfaced Sachsenring circuit. The Spaniard was on top throughout the session and in his last run improved his lap times in each lap to finish first with 0.038s advantage over Marc Marquez, who has been second.

In the morning in dry conditions, his feeling had been quite good also, but Barberá hadn’t been able to put a fast lap together and he was 14^th in the combined time sheets at the end of the day, just 0.737s adrift of the fastest pace set by world championship leader Andrea Dovizioso.

For Loris Baz, the wet session in the afternoon also was better than FP1. In dry conditions, he struggled to find good feelings with the bike and the tyres and he finished 22nd. In the wet afternoon, he managed to go much faster to finish 13^th. But the Reale Avintia Racing French rider of is not so happy with his dry settings and he hopes to improve his feelings tomorrow.

“We started well because we had the opportunity to ride in the dry and in the wet and the sensations have been good in both conditions. We were seven tenths of a second behind in the dry and we finished way back in the time sheets, but once again, all the times are very close together. Tomorrow, more rain is expected and it was important to put in a fast lap on a dry tarmac to make it to QP2 directly, but it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe I didn’t take enough risks or I didn’t find the right moment to attack, but I am still happy with what we achieved. On a wet track in the afternoon, I immediately had a good feeling. I was within the top five all the time and in the end I was fastest. I really like the new tarmac, the grip is good in wet and in dry conditions. Tomorrow I will pull all stops trying to qualify as well as possible for the race!”

“Things went quite well today. It was a bit difficult this morning, because it’s always a bit tough for me to ride fast on this circuit and I didn’t manage to string a good lap together. Looking at my ideal time, I would have been much higher up in the time sheets and therefore I think we have to try and make the bike easier to ride and if it doesn’t rain tomorrow, we will be much better. In the afternoon, my feeling with the bike was much better. The grip on the new asphalt is incredible, much better than at Assen. My feeling was good and since I didn’t want to take too many risks this afternoon, I still have something up my sleeves if it rains again tomorrow!”

Reale Avintia Racing rider Loris Baz finished the Dutch TT in a fantastic eight place following a tricky race at the legendary Assen track today. The 24 year-old French rider started the race from the 14^th place on the grid and he was able to gain some positions when the rain came with six laps to go. He started a thrilling last lap battle for seventh place with Suzuki factory rider Andrea Iannone. He beat the Italian but didn’t expect a final attack from fellow Ducati rider Karel Abraham, how passed both Iannone and Baz on the lasz lap. Nevertheless, eighth position is a great result in a difficult weekend for the Reale Avintia Racing rider.

His teammate Hector Barbera fought his way through from 20^th place on the grid and he was catching the group of Baz in the final part of the race. But when the rain started, he took the decision to swap bikes and he did the last six laps on rain tyres. This was not a winning bet and he struggled with rain tyres to finish the race 16^th.

The MotoGP World Championship heads now to Sachsenring for the German Grand Prix, which will take place next week. It will be the last race before the summer break.

“We were lucky with the rain, because in dry conditions I had no confidence and also I started to feel pain in my right arm after just two laps. I had no feeling with the front and I decided to keep my pace, because a big group was right behind me. When I saw the first drops on my visor, I pushed harder to keep the tyres in the right temperature range and to avoid changing bikes. The strategy was right and I finished eighth. On the last lap, Iannone overtook me and I passed him back in the fast lefthand corner, but I didn’t realise Abraham was so close and he caught me. But there is not a big difference between seventh or eight place, the important thing is that we finished inside the top ten, which is a boost to my motivation ahead of Germany where I hope to finish the first half of the season with another strong result.”

“Today I lost the bet. The rain started towards the end of the race and when it rains at Assen it usually rains hard, so I thought that if I swap the bike and go out again with rain tyres, maybe I would have an advantage. When I saw Zarco going into the pits I took the risk to change the bike as well. With these decisions you sometimes win and sometimes you don’t, and today it was not the best decision. In this kind of races I’ve always been quite conservative and I stayed out until the final moment with bad results. Today I did the opposite and took a big risk, but is turned out disastrously. We had the worst possible conditions in the race, but at least we learned a new lesson for the next time we’ll have a flag to flag race.”

Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz head to Germany for the ninth round of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. With 3.7km of length, the Sachsenring is the shortest track in the calendar and also the slowest in terms of average speed. But its nature with a twisty and tight first sector and a fast final part of the circuit always produces close battles.

Barbera has good memories from last year when he qualified for the front row in second place, and also from the race when he fought for the podium in rain conditions. But he swapped bikes too late losing his podium chances and finishing the race in ninth place. Nonetheless he is looking forward to this weekend with confidence, as he loves the track.

The German circuit is not in the favourites list for his teammate Baz but, following his good performance last time in Assen, he is looking forward to repeat this good result and to finish the first half of the season in a positive mood.

“The weekend in Assen was not so good for us and that’s why I’m looking forward to get the German weekend started. I love the track. Last year I started the race from the front row of the grid and I did a good race on Sunday. Assen has been always difficult for me, but Sachsenring is one of the best circuits for my riding style and I’m confident to achieve a good result. This will be important after such a difficult first half of the season. It’s crucial to leave Germany with positive feelings so we can build up our confidence for the second part of the championship.”

“I’m looking forward to start the weekend at the Sachsenring following the result from last Sunday in Assen. I don’t like the circuit too much, I never felt great there and last year I raced with an injury. But we have some ideas to make the bike work and it’s a left-hand circuit, which should be good for my arm I want to finish the first half of the season with another strong result. Straight after this race, I will undergo surgery to fix the problems in my right arm.”

The weather forecast was correct and the MotoGP action took place on a wet track today at Assen during the free and the qualifying sessions. In the morning, Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz finished sixth and ninth, which boosted the team’s expectations ahead of Q1.

But in the afternoon, both riders completely lost the good feelings from the morning sessions. Both suffered with a lack of rear grip and were not able to match their morning’s pace. Nevertheless, Baz gave his best until the last lap, trying to get in Q2. It was not possible and he was fourth at the end of Q1. Tomorrow he will start the race from 14^th place on the fifth row of the grid.

Barbera was far from his pace in FP3 and he will start the race from the penultimate row of the grid. Both riders are still confident for the race and they don’t care if it takes place in dry or wet conditions.

“We were close to make it through to Q2! This morning I had a great feeling in wet conditions, but this afternoon, the feeling was different and riding was more difficult. This morning I crashed, but the grip was fantastic, unlike in Q1 where I had no grip at all and where riding was very tricks in the last sector of the circuit. I was in the top three or four the whole session and I tried my best until the final lap…I knew that I had to put it all together for a perfect lap and it was going well until T3. I was close to crashing about ten times on my last lap and, although I improved my pace, it was not enough. Still, my grid position is not so bad. It will be interesting to see what the weather will be like tomorrow. I think that we can be strong in any condition and get a good result in the race.”

“Qualifying was really difficult. This morning I finished sixth and my feeling was great. But this afternoon it was like riding on a different track, we had no rear grip and I felt like I was going to crash in every single turn. With this feeling it was impossible to push and I was not able to be fast like in the morning. In just 15 minutes you can´t stop to change the set-up, and therefore we will start from the rear of the grid tomorrow. The conditions changed and I have to find a way to adapt better when this happens. Sincerely I don’t know what conditions would be best for us tomorrow. This morning I was fast in the rain, but it was a disaster in the afternoon. Yesterday I was okay in the morning and didn’t do too well in the afternoon…all I know is that we have to give our best in any condition.”

Reale Avintia Racing riders Loris Baz and Hector Barbera finished the first practice day for the Netherlands Grand Prix in 16^th and 18^th place. Both riders worked hard with their crews to refine the set-up of their Ducati Desmosedici bikes for this demanding layout. Assen is a really fast and flowing track without emphasis on last-gasp braking, which allows the riders to shift the weight balance towards front of the bike in order to get the best performance from the front tyre. This was the main focus for both Baz and Barbera today and even though their progress doesn’t seem to reflect in the time sheets, they are not too far from the Top 10 as the lap times have been really close together today.

Rain is expected tomorrow and if the forecast is correct, the Reale Avintia riders see realistic chances to improve their position, because wet conditions are usually favourable for them and their Ducati Desmosedici machines.

“It was difficult in the morning because my feeling with the bike was not great. But we made several changes to the set-up for this afternoon and everything went better. With this new front tyres, you need to put more weight on the front to make them work, but with my size this is not easy to get used to. But it was clear that this change helped us to improve. At the end we mounted fresh soft tyres to try to do a fast lap, but maybe the medium front would have been a better choice. But we are just 0.4s from the Top 10 and this is not bad. It seems that tomorrow it will be raining for the whole day, so we’ll prepare everything for Q1 and try to get in Q2.”

“To be honest, this is not the way I like to start the weekend and maybe at this track we struggle more with our bike problems. We need to put more weight on the front because you don’t use the brakes so much at this track and we don’t stress the front tyre enough. If we look at the time sheets, everything is really tight and we just missed a couple of tenths to get in Q2. Maybe I failed when I went out for a fast lap, but overall my pace was quite fast. If I’m lucky tomorrow and it doesn’t rain in the morning, I might be able to improve my lap time. We have to improve the bike in the braking points. If it rains, I will to do my best to get the best possible position on the grid, although I do not have a lot of experience with this bike in wet conditions.”

After a break of ten days, Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz head to the historic circuit of Assen this weekend for the eighth round of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. The Dutch Grand Prix is the first of two consecutive race weekends that will mark the end of the first half of the season in Germany. But before heading to Sachsenring, Barbera and Baz will take part in the famous ‘Dutch TT’ at Assen on Sunday.

The 4.5km circuit is one of the favorites of the Reale Avintia riders and both hope to be fighting for a ‘Top 10’ result in the “Cathedral of Motorcycling”. Last year, the race was interrupted due to rain showers after 14 laps and in the second 12-lap-race, Hector Barbera managed to secure sixth place.

For Loris Baz, this will be his first time in Assen with Ducati. Last year, he did not take part in the race due to an injury, but now he is back eager to fight for a good result.

“After the good weekend in Barcelona, I have been training very hard and with more motivation than ever. I come to Assen looking forward to improve what we did in the last race and to leave the first part of the season behind with a great result. I like the circuit and we have to work hard from Friday to get the most out of the tyres and to choose the right ones for the race on Sunday. It will be important to do well in Assen and in Germany so we can say good-bye to the first part of the season with good feelings.”

“I am happy to go to Assen because it’s a circuit that I love. I was a bit tired after Mugello and Barcelona, so it was great to have a weekend to rest and re-charge the batteries. I’ve also been training hard, because I want to be strong for the race on one of my favorite circuits. Last year I was injured and I couldn’t race. Now, I’m even keener to ride my Ducati at Assen. We will have to wait and see how the weather develops, because even though the forecast is not bad, it can always rain at Assen. I want to finish the first half of the season in a positive mood, so I’ll give my best in the next two races.”

Reale Avintia Racing celebrated its best results of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship in Barcelona today, with Hector Barberá marking his 250^th GP appearance in ninth and Loris Baz twelfth.

The 25-lap race proved to be a physically demanding and hard race run under scorching temperatures, with track temperatures soaring to over 50 degrees.
Héctor Barberá started from the second row of the grid in sixth but he had to produce several brilliant overtakes after losing some places in the first laps.

He set a fast and consistent pace and he was able to fight his way back into the top 10 when he started an intense late battle with World Championship leader Maverick Viñales. A brilliant attacking last lap from Barbera secured him ninth position, which was his first top 10 of the season and the perfect way to celebrate becoming the youngest rider in history to make 250 Grand Prix appearances.

His teammate Loris Baz finished twelfth in a very tough race where he had to fight against the extreme heat and some physical issues with his right arm. Demonstrating his usual strong mental focus, the Reale Avintia French rider was rewarded with four championship points.

Following two races in a row at Mugello and Barcelona, the MotoGP World Championship takes a break before resuming the action in two weeks at the Dutch TT in Assen.

“I am very happy because the start of the season has been very chaotic,but today we have finally been able to demonstrate that we are competitive again. We must forget the first races and continue in this way. Today we started the race in sixth position and we finished ninth. And it was a very tough race with so much heat. At the beginning, Zarco was very strong in the chicane and he took me off the track and I lost contact with the group. It’s a shame because if we had been there we could have done a little more. But we are getting closer and we are more competitive. I am adapting more my style to this bike because it has been very hard and that’s why I’m training really hard off the track. In the last races we were already better and we were not able to confirm it, but today we have finally got back to the ‘Top 10’. Now we have to keep this momentum in Assen and Sachsenring.”

“It was a tough race. The start was not good, I had a strange feeling with the clutch and I could not gain any places. In the first few laps I passed Abraham, Rabat and Iannone, who were slower. And then I tried to save my tyres when I was behind Viñales. But it was not enough because in the end I didn’t have any grip. I have also had a problem with the front brake. It became very hard and with the problem that I have in my arms, I was exhausted at the end of the race. I think that today it was not possible to do much more but until the last third of the race I was very close to the group of Hector, Viñales and Crutchlow. If I didn’t have to slow down at the end it might have been an even better result. The positive thing is that we have scored more points and hope to do better in Assen.”

The second day of practice and qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix was staged on a revised layout today, with a return to last year´s configuration used after a new chicane created for 2017 was dropped following a Safety Commission meeting on Friday.

The switch back to the F1 chicane used during Saturday and Sunday in 2016 was declared the safest option for tomorrow´s 25-lap race.

The changes didn’t affect on the impressive speed demonstrated by Reale Avintia Racing team rider Hector Barbera, who was 10^th in FP3 this morning, which secured him a place in the all-important Q2.

A positive performance in FP4 when he worked on race pace was followed by a superb qualifying display. The Spanish rider set the sixth fastest lap time, which is his best qualifying of 2017 and his best grid position since the Brno race last August. A second row start means Barbera is confident he can celebrate his 250^th Grand Prix start with a top 10 finish tomorrow.

Loris Baz will start tomorrow’s race from the 16^th place on the grid, but the Frenchman is satisfied after fighting in Q1 with riders like Valentino Rossi, Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco, Jonas Folger and Cal Crutchlow, so he was satisfied with the final outcome. He has shown promising race pace and tomorrow the Reale Avintia Racing rider hopes to be able to score some crucial World Championship points.

“Tomorrow I’ll reach 250 races in the World Championship, but every race feels like the first one for me. I’ve been here for 16 seasons and I’m 30 years old, so I’ve been enjoying more than half my of life in the paddock, and that is why I feel privileged. I have lived beautiful moments, the best of my life and others very hard, like being without bike for the following season, or the most recent example were the first five races this year that was like a nightmare for me. That is why this sixth place has come at the best moment and tomorrow I hope to celebrate my 250^th race with a great result. I am going to give my best. The race will be difficult with so much heat and there will be many crashes as we have seen today. The race pace I have is good, and although my finger hurts a little after the crash yesterday, I think we can do very well. ”

“We could not expect much more from Q1. Sometimes you end up higher and with a bad taste in the mouth, but today now I’m happy with this 16th place. If you look at the people who missed Q2, they have all achieved a few victories and podiums and that’s why we have to be happy. I couldn´t do more and I went absolutely to the limit of the bike, so tomorrow we will see the rhythm of the others. With a good start, being smart and finishing the race, we can do well tomorrow. I feel the circuit is better with the other chicane, but it is not perfect. At least there is less chance of creating chaos tomorrow in the first lap.”

The first day of practice for the Catalunya Grand Prix has been positive for Reale Avintia Racing team riders, with Héctor Barberá in 11^th and Loris Baz in 15^th place. Both riders had a good feeling with the bike, they are confident about their chances to further improve tomorrow and the fact that both riders crashed in FP2 was only a small setback.

In the first session, Barberá and Baz remained in the garage, as the track was still wet and they preferred to save some tyres for tomorrow. The test that took place a few weeks ago was a great help and the riders started with a good base set-up, which resulted in a strong pace from the beginning. The crashes of Hector and Loris took place in the two revised points of the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, with the Spanard falling in turn 10 and the French in the new chicane. Fortunately both incidents ended without major consequences and, although Barbera was diagnosed with a strong contusion to the tendon of the little finger of his left hand, he will come back stronger tomorrow, with the aim of making it to Q2.

“We started the first day with ups and downs. This morning we didn’t go out because the track was not completely dry and in the afternoon I crashed and my left hand was trapped under the bike. One of my fingers got hurt and in the first moment I was scared because I could not move it and I had a lot of pain. Even though, I went back to the garage, grabbed my second bike and finished the session. Although I didn’t feel great, I was able to do three decent laps, so in the end, we finished the day on a high note. The most important thing is that I’m ok. The guys in the Clinica Mobile ruled out any fractures in my swollen finger, but it will be difficult to put on my glove tomorrow. The bike works very well on this track, we had a test a few weeks ago and we have the right set-up. I only need to choose the tyres well for Sunday and work to improve our race pace.”

“In the morning, the track was not completely dry and we decided not to go out in order to keep some tyres. In the afternoon, we went quite well. We went out with one bike that had the set-up base of Mugello and the other one with the set-up from the test, and I liked the one from Mugello more. We have to work more, but it still has been a positive start to this Grand Prix. We need a little more power and tomorrow we will use a new engine that can solve many problems. The lap times are very close together, but I trust in our capability of improving our lap times. In the new chicane I always cut across the kerbs, but when I crashed this afternoon I also entered with a lot of lean angle. It was a slow fall, but crashing at this point can still be really dangerous, especially in the group, because when you crash, you remain in the middle of the track.”

Straight after the last race in Italy, Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz continue on to the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit for the seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship.

The track has been revised to improve safety. The F1 layout will be used again this year, making the entry to the stadium both tighter and slower. The changes also include turn 12 and now it’s a right-left-right slow speed chicane between the stadium and the final corner of the Catalan circuit.

Barbera and Baz had the chance to get the first taste of the new layout two weeks ago, when they completed a successful private test in Barcelona. Both riders are confident about this weekend and looking forward to a good result on Sunday’s 25-lap-race.

“We head to Barcelona this weekend and I’m quite confident because we had a positive test there two weeks ago. But we have to get on track and confirm our speed from Friday. Overall, Mugello was a good weekend, but we learned an important lesson on Sunday, about how crucial tyre selection can be. Barcelona is a good track for us and I’ve been always fast there. The changes to the layout changed the track characteristics, which is the same for everybody. Right now we are in a situation were we need a good result, so we will give our best from the first day. In the first races we have been far away from where we should be.”

“Italy was a tough weekend and during the race I felt really sick, without a reason. So I tried to rest as much as possible during the last few days to be physically strong in Barcelona. I’m confident for this race because the test was good for us and I hope to have a trouble-free race weekend, not like at Mugello. The track changed quite a lot. Before, it was more fun to ride there, but these changes were made for safety reasons upon rider’s request. I’m keen to have a strong weekend and I am convinced that our test was useful because we will start with a good base from the first day.”