Reale Avintia Racing riders left Texas with mixed feelings after the third round of the MotoGP World Championship. Hector Barbera scored two points finishing the race in 14th place, while Loris Baz got no reward after crashing out of lap 9 of the race, when he was battling with the British rider Scott Redding.
But there were also positive aspects on this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, a track that does in general not favour the Ducati riders. Hector Barbera made some good steps in the learning process of a new riding style with his Desmosedici GP16. Although the final position in the race was fairly disappointing, he understood some things that should be useful in the next race at home in Spain.
Baz was unlucky, but until the crash, he was showing his potential, battling in the group that was fighting for the top 10.
Following three overseas races, the World Championship returns to Europe in two weeks time, and Jerez will be the home round for Reale Avintia Racing and Héctor Barberá.
“It was a strange race, because the result is not good, but I improved my riding style with this bike. It was the first weekend so far this season where we did not touch the set-up, and it was just me who had to change and adapt to the bike. In the last five laps I struggled with arm-pump, because this is a really demanding track and this year even more so due to its bumpy surface. But we have to focus on the positive aspects and this is that we finished the race close to the other Ducatis. I want to thank the team for being patient, and I promise to keep working at the maximum. The next race is Jerez, a circuit I like and where I’m sure that we can do better.”
“It was a shame, because although I was not riding at my best, I was able to stay in the group. Then I tried to catch Scott (Redding) and something failed in the gearbox going into a slow hairpin. The bike was like in neutral and I was forced to run off the track. I came back and maybe I pushed too much, because I crashed just two or three corners later, and today I could not save it… We knew that it was important to finish the race and score points, but today it was tough and the bike was not as easy to ride as in Argentina. But I’m sure that we will be back stronger in Jerez.”
