The Reale Avintia Racing Team arrived in the Czech Republic eager to start the second half of the season on the right foot. On Friday, Hector Barbera had a great start and seemed to be set for a good weekend. On Saturday, Loris Baz got straight in Q2 and although Barbera failed his attempt, both riders were confident for the race. Rain would be a big help for them, because both had showed their speed in these conditions many times, and last season they achieved one of the best result for the team in MotoGP at Brno.
But in the race, both Reale Avintia Racing riders were unlucky. The rain stopped before the start and then both riders had problems when they came into the pits to swap their bikes. Hector had to come in again when he felt something was wrong with his bike and after two stops all chances of scoring points were lost. Loris hit one of his mechanics swapping bikes, but fortunately he was uninjured. Then he started to recover and was eleventh, but he lost three places later one and crashed out with six laps when he pushed to catch Jack Miller.
The MotoGP World Championship now heads to Austria next week for the eleventh round.The Reale Avintia Racing riders look forward to move on to Spielberg and put the Brno weekend behind them with a good result.
“It was an up and down weekend. At some stages we seemed to go the right way, but then we got lost again. The race today was really difficult and nothing went as planned. The rain stopped before the start and it was like playing lottery. I decided to swap bikes early as I could see very quickly that the track was ready to go with slick tyres, but when I went out again something was wrong with the bike and I had to stop again. With two pit stops, the race was over for me. We had some positive aspects this weekend, the team is highly motivated and everybody wants to leave this unlucky string of races behind. Next week we have another opportunity and this time, we have to do our best on a track that suits my Ducati very much!”
“It was difficult to make the tyre choice before the start. We always leave the bike with its rain settings when the track is damp and after a few laps we change for the second bike with dry settings. But the problem today was that the track was already dry on the first lap and it was time to pull in and swap the bike, but I had to wait until the bike was ready. I ended up coming in when most of the others did the same and during the change, I tore one of the mechanics to the ground. Leaving the pit lane, I was thinking of what just happened and I almost fell myself. I needed a couple of laps to find back to my concentration, but then I rode on in my normal pace. But this bike is difficult: We can do a single fast lap, but to strong many fast laps together is tough. It’s hard to get the bike to turn, we have a lot of chatter in the front and things get worse as the tyres wear off. I pushed a lot trying to catch Miller and I crashed. It’s a shame, but this is racing!”
