Firstly an update on Karel Abraham.
The Czech rider had a horrific looking crash on the first lap at Aragon, where his Ducati’s GP11 rear wheel clipped him on his helmet, complaining of a headache he was sent to the hospital for a series of tests which fortunately revealed no injuries, but the doctors have decided to keep him under for observation until later this evening.
We’ve got the rest of the press releases, where you can read about the tire issues that Marco Simoncelli and Toni Elias had.
Alvaro Bautista’s 6th place finish, while Hector Barbera read the wrong pitboard.
Cal Crutchlow and Hiroshi Aoyama who had fun dicing with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edward’s 150th race was a bust.
Marco Simoncelli – 4thI am pleased with this result – we had to grit our teeth and I’m sure that even without the mistake I wouldn’t have been challenging for the podium anyway.
Lorenzo was faster than me on used tyres so no complaints there.
I didn’t get a great start but I managed to get into my rhythm quickly and make some passes to get up to third place.
From the tenth lap onwards the tyres really dropped off and then again after another five laps, although Spies was in even worse shape than me so I was able to fight back to fourth.
” Álvaro Bautista – 6th“Today we had very different conditions from the practice and the temperature was much lower.
I wanted to have a good race in front of my home fans, so I pushed as hard as I could to make the bike and tyres work right from the beginning, but I didn’t get a good start and other riders got in my way in the first corner and it was quite difficult to overtake early on.
I got up to Hector and Nicky we had a big battle and fought a lot between us and when I got into sixth the riders in front were very far away and I was still fighting with the other two, so I couldn’t get a good rhythm.
In the last laps I made a break from the other two and was able to ride more consistently and smoother and pull away to secure the sixth place.
It was a good result, but I think if the conditions had been the same as qualifying we had the potential to be with the group fighting for podium positions.
I am happy with all we have done this weekend and looking forward to the next race and to continue with this work.
”Héctor Barberá – 8th“Today’s race was difficult, because the temperature was a lot different to that which we experienced in practice.
The bike behaved a little differently and we had to adjust to the situation.
I think that my start was good and I am satisfied with that, because I hadn’t done so before this season.
There was a moment in which I was up to sixth place, but Hayden and I traded positions over the course of a lap and Bautista escaped.
With two laps remaining, I accidentally focused on Hayden’s pitboard, and saw that they had put one less lap up for him.
I got confused and Hayden took the advantage to pass me; I got back ahead but ran wide just after and lost my chance to keep up with him.
It was a shame not to have finished as the best Ducati, but our hard work was shown in today’s race.
I want to emphasize that my team did a great job today, and gave me a great setup.
I am on a run of successful races, and want it to continue.
” Cal Crutchlow – 9th“I’m really pleased with how the race went today because I was back inside the top and having an enjoyable fight with two of the best riders on the grid, who have had a lot of success in Grand Prix racing.
It’s a shame I lost a couple of places at the first corner because I’m sure with a better start I could have been battling with Bautista and Hayden.
I got on the inside on the dirty part of the track and when I braked, I locked the front wheel and nearly crashed.
What pleases me the most is that I could make up for the lack of speed on the straight in the corners because the Yamaha handles brilliantly and my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team gave me a really good bike today.
But to hold off Valentino and Hiroshi at the end took a massive effort.
I think if they’d started the final lap in front of me on the straight it would have been hard for me to slipstream.
There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend because I’ve got back in the top 10 on a track I’d never seen before and beaten two guys with a lot more experience than me.
I gained a lot of experience today riding with Valentino and that has given me a lot of confidence for the next few races.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – 11thIt was a nice race and a fun battle with Rossi and Crutchlow.
The final position isn’t great but I am happy with the way I rode in difficult conditions, with much less grip than yesterday which made it tough.
Valentino, Cal and I passed each other a few times and it was great fun.
Now I am hoping to put up a much stronger performance at our home GP.
”Colin Edwards – 13th“That certainly wasn’t a great way to celebrate my 150th race in MotoGP.
We tried to get the bike right all weekend but we were pretty much chasing our tails the whole time.
We were trying to improve the rear grip to compensate for the speed we lose on the straight and for the race we altered the weight distribution again.
We put a lot of weight on the rear but it never really worked.
After about five laps the grip just went down and I wasn’t expecting it to drop off that quickly.
Once that happened I couldn’t stay in that group I was in and I just went backwards.
If somebody gave me 10 million Euros to do a 1.
51 right now, there is no way I could do it.
The last two races have been pretty tough, so we’ll get our heads together and try and come up with a solution for Japan and aim to be fighting back in the top 10 where I have been all season.
”Toni Elias – DNF“Despite the crash I feel satisfied because I have pushed hard for the whole race.
Once again I had a very good start and the first laps I have tried hard to follow the group.
But, as happened in the past races, I had problems with rear grip and the guys started to pass me.
I could not maintain the same pace and then Loris hit me at 7 laps to go.
We went both out in the gravel but I am not angry because this is racing and I am happy we were both okay”.