Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz finished 13th and 18th in a really difficult race for all Ducati riders. The lack of grip has been the main concern during the weekend, with the engineers trying to find the solution every day, without success.
Hector Barbera finished the race in the same position he started, but he was forced to recover during the 23 laps of the race, after touching with another rider in the first lap and dropping back to the last place. In the last two laps, he won an intense battle with Eugene Laverty and took three championship points to keep tenth place in the point rankings.
His teammate Loris Baz returned to action this weekend after missing the race at Misano. Avintia Racing’s French rider knew that the race was going to be really tough in his physical condition, but he has shown a big determination to finish the race and he got a vast experience before heading to the triple flyaway races, which will start in three week’s time with the Japanese Grand Prix.
HÉCTOR BARBERÁ #8 P13
“It was a difficult weekend and our main handicap was the lack of grip on the rear tyre. We tried to find more grip over the three days, but it was not possible. During the race I’ve been sliding all around the track and, without traction, the bike was not fast on the straights. Pirro touched me on the first lap and I was blown off the track. Then I had to recover during the race and it was difficult, but I don’t think the result would have been different without that incident. I hope Michelin will bring some new tyres for the next races, because all Ducati riders had the same problem here. It’s not normal to see Dovizioso just four seconds ahead of us.”
LORIS BAZ #76 P18
“It was a tough race from the first lap to the end. My target was to finish, to gather some data and to take this race as a training session. We finished far, almost twenty seconds behind Hector. He was one second per lap faster than me. I’m not physically fit enough to finish a race or even half a race riding these bikes, so today we did something positive. Now I have to work hard during the next two weeks, train with the bicycle and do some specific work for my leg. I’ll try to go to Japan, Australia and Malaysia in the best possible shape, because I love two of these tracks and I think it will be possible to get good results.”
