After a long summer break, the MotoGP World Championship restarted today at Brno with free practice for the Czech Grand Prix. Hector Barbera showed that his hard training during the break was useful and he was fighting at the front in both practice sessions today in wet and dry conditions. The Spanish rider of Reale Avintia Racing was leading both sessions for a while and eventually finished eight in FP1 and fifth in FP2. This was a great way to start the second half of the season.
It was also a positive day for Loris Baz who was able to test the performance of his right arm after undergoing surgery three weeks ago. The 24 year-old Frenchman used the morning session to complete a race distance and evaluate the performance of the Michelin wet tyres with positive results. In the afternoon, the track dried out quickly and Baz declared himself satisfied with his dry pace, although he still needs to improve his confidence for the front end over the bumps and push harder tomorrow to get the best possible grid position.
“Today was a good day and we were fast in all conditions. In the morning we finished eight in the wet, but my feelings were really good and I was leading the classification for a long time. With the asphalt half wet and half dry, things didn’t go too bad either and I was close to the top 10 even though I don’t like these conditions. The track finally dried out and we showed our pace. We were fighting at the top and I was fifth at the end of the session. We still have many things to change, but the bike is fast and so is the rider who has to oush it to the maximum. I had no holidays in the summer break, for me it was like a winter training and I start the second half of the season with full batteries. It was only the first day, but me and my team are strong and I think that we can have a great weekend.”
“Best news today is that I had no problems with my arm. We worked a lot this morning on the race pace in wet conditions, as rain is foreasted for Sunday and it’s important to know where we are. It was also important to know if we can make the race with Michelin’s soft wet tyre, as they had some issues last season. In the afternoon the track dried out and our pace was not bad. I still lack confidence in the front and I also lost some tenths on my fastest lap behind Iannone. We have to keep working on the front end of the bike to improve and fight for the top 10 tomorrow.”
