After the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix, Reale Avintia Racing riders Hector Barbera and Loris Baz arrive this weekend at Phillip Island for the Australian Grand Prix. Although the circuit is one of the favorites of the riders, the weather can play a big role again this weekend, with showers, cold temperatures and strong winds predicted for the race of Sunday.
But that won’t be a problem for Barbera and Baz who head to the island motivated and eager to score a great result. The Spaniard completed a good pre-season test at Phillip Island, and at Motegi he finished in the point rankings after a very difficult weekend. Baz arrives after achieving a fantastic tenth place in Japan and the Australian circuit is his favorite one.
The Australian Grand Prix is the 16th race of the Championship and the penultimate of three consecutive races that lead the paddock from Japan to Malaysia, passing through Phillip Island.
“I like Phillip Island and I’ve been always fast on this track, but it is also a place where the weather varies a lot. Normally it is very windy, it rains and then gets dry again, the conditions change very quickly on Phillip Island and they are always a question mark. But we head there with high expectations, because the pre-season test was very good and the two points I scored in Japan last week gave me extra motivation to face the race in Australia. Although the weather can be bad, it can’t be worse than in Japan, where for the first time in my life I did not use slick tyres all weekend. I hope we can use slicks at Phillip Island.”
“What can I say about Phillip Island? It’s my favourite circuit, but it’s always very windy there and the weather is very unpredictable, so we’ll see. After the weekend at Motegi, it’s unimaginable that the weather might be even worse, only the cold temperatures and the wind can be worse than in Japan. I love the circuit layout and I enjoy riding the bike, so once again the goal will be a top 10 result. We had a difficult race there last year, but I enjoyed battling with Hector and Yonny (Hernandez) two years ago. With Superbikes, I had very good races at Phillip Island as well, so I’m hoping to get a strong result again. “
