The forecast was right and today heavy rain hit the Misano circuit. After the strong performance showed by Loris Baz during the warm-up session, the expectations of Reale Avintia Racing for the Grand Prix of San Marino were high. Hector Barbera was not as fast as Baz during the 20 minutes-session in the morning, but nevertheless his feeling in wet conditions was quite good and he was confident to fight for a top ten result in the race.
Both riders had a great start and passed some rivals, with Barbera 11th and Baz 13th after the first lap. But then it was the Frenchman who mounted his attack and moved up to fifth place in only a few laps, fighting with Jack Miller. When they caught Maverick Viñales, Baz lost the front and crashed on lap ten. He returned to the track and kept fighting to score some points. Lap by lap, he closed the gap with Bautista, but pushing too much with a broken steering damper from the first crash caused him to crash again. He didn’t give up,but bravely continued a second time and finished the race in 16th place.
The Misano race ended also unlucky for Hector Barbera. The Spaniard was in seventh place, fighting with Pirro, Miller and Viñales for fourth position. But on lap 12 he suffered a big crash and his race was finished.
The MotoGP World Championship will resume in two weeks time on Spanish soil at the Aragon Grand Prix, where the Reale Avintia Racing riders hope to get a good result.
“From the first lap I realized that the feeling with the rear was not the same as this morning. But on the other hand, I had a lot of confidence with the front, so I pushed hard to gain some places. There are races that you do with your head and there are races that you do with your heart, and this one was a race to take risks. I did my best get closer to the front and every lap I could see how I was catching up with the front group. I was with Jack (Miller) who had a good pace and I wanted to catch Maverick (Viñales), but when I hit the brakes I lost the front and crashed. Then I came back on track, found back to my pace and wanted to score some points. But once again I crashed when I had Alvaro (Bautista) in front of me. Now we have to forget this race and think about Aragon, were I want to use my head in the race.”
“The crash was a pity because today we had a big chance to get a good result. But all in all, the weekend has been positive, because we started the race better than usual and after some laps we were close to the front. The conditions were tricky but we had to try. I was closing the gap with Viñales and Miller, maybe I pushed too much and I crashed. I was highsided from my bike and I was lucky to escape with no injuries. Now we have to focus on the next race in Aragon.”
