Expectations for the Spanish Grand Prix were high after the great performance showed by the Avintia Racing riders during qualifying practice. But the higher temperatures today changed the track conditions completely and Hector Barbera was not able to fight for a better result and finished the race in tenth place. It is certainly a positive result still and well within the targets set by the rider and the team, but not enough to make Hector happy after his strong pace during practice and qualifying. Nevertheless, the Avintia Racing rider leaves Jerez with eighth place in the championship standings, only five points behind the fifth. After four races, he still is the best Ducati rider.
For Loris Baz, once again the race was not easy. Like at the last race in Texas, another rider hit him on the first lap, and although he managed to stay on his bike this time, he dropped back to last place. But the young Frenchman made a great recovery to finish the race in 13thposition, taking championship points for the second race in succession. In two weeks he’ll race at home and he hopes to finish higher up.
HÉCTOR BARBERÁ #8 / @HectorBarbera P10
“This was a very difficult race. The weekend had been almost perfect and we did a great job so far, which makes this tenth place a little disappointing. The track condition changed completely for the race and from the second lap onwards, I struggled with the traction control that was cutting too much power. I tried all the mappings I had for the race, but non of them worked and, even leaned over, the bike was cutting power, so I was losing time on every corner exit and I was not able to attack in the braking points. I was not comfortable riding the bike and I’ve been fighting the whole race. We continue adding points and this is the most positive, and despite our problems, we are still in the top ten. To be honest, our real position is between fifth and tenth, but we have to go one step back with the electronics, because we changed something in Argentina and it’s clear that it doesn’t work.”
LORIS BAZ #76 / @lorisbaz P13
“Today it was important to finish the race, but once again I was close to crashing on the first lap, when Redding blew me off the track. When I came back I was last, and on the next lap, I made a mistake and I went wide again. I lost too much time and with these two problems, I had to change my race strategy. We chose the soft front tyre and the plan was to save it during the first part of the race with a full tank, but I was forced to recover and the tyre was really bad at the end, so the last few laps were very difficult. Positive is that we took three points and we learned a couple of things that we will change for the next races. The season started here for us and I want to use this experience to get a better result at Le Mans.”
