Reale Avintia Racing riders will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of the Americas from the fifth row of the grid. Loris Baz will start the race from 14th place, Hector Barbera will line up next to the Frenchman in 15th position. Both riders fought hard in Q1 to get into Q2 and although Baz was quite close to make it happen, he lost all his chances in the last corner when he almost crashed. But the brave Reale Avintia Racing rider saved the crash in Texas rodeo style, and definitely played a main starring role in today’s first qualifying session. The race will be tough, but nevertheless he will try to fight for a top 10 result tomorrow.
Hector Barbera finished very close to his teammate. The Spaniard still tries to adapt his riding style to the desmands of the Ducati Desmosedici GP16. Although 15th is not the place he wanted to be at, Barbera was happy at the end of the day with his progression. Tomorrow, he expects to keep improving his riding style with his Ducati during the 21-lap race.
“It was a difficult day and more so in the morning. In FP4 we found something positive that helped us to improve and during qualifying the feeling was really good. I tried to hook up to somebody else to make a fast lap, but there was nobody around. Nevertheless, I had a good pace riding by myself and the lap was not so bad. In my second attack I pushed to the maximum and in the last corner maybe too much… I realized when I was braking that it was going to be difficult to make the turn without going wide, but I really wanted to get in Q2… After all I was not able to do it, but I managed to safe the crash, and at least my sponsors will be shown all around the world.”
“I’m happy, but not over the moon. We are in a phase of adaption, which sounds strange from a rider that is in his 16th season in the World Championship. But I have to start from zero and change my riding style. With my style this bike does not work, and we know that it’s me who has to change. We have improved a lot compared to the last race, not as much as I would like to, but I think that we are going the right direction, even if we know that it is not going to be easy, because I have to change all my riding habits. The main problem is that when you want to go fast, you don’t actively think about your riding. You ride by instinct and in this moment, my old style comes back, which is the problem. I have to look at the race as another practice session and my target tomorrow will be to improve my riding style, without thinking about the result.”
