Reale Avintia Racing rider Loris Baz achieved a fantastic ‘top 10′ at the Japanese Grand Prix today in very difficult conditions. The rain had been the key player throughout the weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi, and the race was no different. Baz, starting from the ’12 + 1’ position on the grid, recovered little by little until he caught Dani Pedrosa. After a few laps he was able to pass the Spaniard to cross the finish line in tenth place. This was great work from the Frenchman and his technical team in a day where Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati won their fifth race of the season.
Hector Barbera also got his prize in Japan following a very difficult weekend. The Spanish rider struggled since Friday to find rear grip on the Japanese track, but today he was able to fight until the last lap with Tito Rabat and Scott Redding, to finish 14th and score two championship points.
The Reale Avintia Racing team now moves on from Asia to the Pacific region for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
“Considering how the weekend started with a gap of more than three seconds to the fastest guys, the result is not bad. The first laps were very difficult, the conditions were extreme and I don’t remember ever being in a race with so much water. To be honest, being in the middle of the group was very dangerous because you could not see a thing, as far as safety goes it was right on the limit. At the beginning of the racee, I was holding back because of the visibility, but once I started to see a little more I tried to gain some positions. When I caught Dani (Pedrosa) I struggled to overtake him, but since I had no rhythm to move forward, I stayed calm until I saw the right moment to pass. I’m happy because my team did a great job over the weekend and this ‘top ten’ after several races without scoring points is a good result.”
“It’s been a pretty difficult weekend, because normally I’m a very fast rider in wet conditions, as I’ve shown on many occasions in the past. But here I’ve suffered a lot. This is a track that usually has good grip, but I couldn’t find in the three days of the Grand Prix. Maybe when it rains we are going too soft with the set-up of my bike and maybe today it would have been better to have the bike harder…I don’t know, we have to analyze the data to make sure this doesn’t happen again. 14th place is not bad after the last few races, but to be honest is not where I would like to be.”
