Finally the sun was shining today and even though there were still some wet patches during the FP3 session, the MotoGP riders were able to test the new surface of the Le Mans new surface in dry conditions during the last free practice and the qualifying sessions. Reale Avintia Racing rider Loris Baz gave his best this morning and got the maximum from the mixed conditions to get through to Q2. After several fast laps, Baz finished ninth. He crashed in qualifying fighting to improve his lap times and he will start his home race tomorrow in twelfth place from the fourth row of the grid.
Reale Avintia Racing teammate Hector Barbera was not able to get into the second and final qualifying session. Although he finished tenth in Q1, he is optimistic about his pace for tomorrow’s 28-lap-race after a strong FP4.
“This morning everything went really well and we went straight to Q2. We knew that FP4 was going to be very important, because it was the first dry session of the weekend. But we had a small issue with the second bike and we were not able to get back on the track again. This forced us to start qualifying with something we did not test before on the front and it did not work. I went out again and my feeling was not great, but I tried to do a fast lap anyway and I crashed. Tomorrow we need to test another solution during the warm-up and this will be the key to be able to do a really good race or just a normal race.”
“My position in qualifying was not the best, but at least I got a bit closer to the front runners. I finished just 0.4s from Lorenzo and very close to Petrucci, so I think that we have made a little step forward. The feeling with the bike has been better and I think this is due to the improvements made at the Jerez test. I still lack confidence, but I have a better feeling for the front. I want to say big thanks to my team, especially to my crew chief Jarno, and all the people that are supporting me because they never stopped believing in our ability to overcome our problems and make a decisive step. I want to reward them with a strong race tomorrow, because my pace in FP4 was quite competitive.”
