After Yamaha, Repsol Honda, Yamaha Tech3 and Ducati riders’ quotes you can now check out what the rest of the riders had to say after the exciting and eventul French GP at Le Mans that was livened up by the rain.
Alvaro Bautista – 6th “That was a particularly difficult race because the conditions were so different to how they’d been for practice.
I also didn’t get a great start and that was a shame because looking at the lap times it cost me the chance to fight at the front.
When the track started to dry the bike was cutting the power on the straight and I was losing time but sixth place is a positive result if not a great one because we’ve improved on last year and I don’t like this track.
Overall we have made progress here and I feel better with the electronics and suspension in the wet.
I am satisfied with the result and I want to thank the team and the sponsors.
This is a nice boost before we go to their home race at Mugello.
”Michele Pirro – 8th“I’m pleased with how the first half of the race went, as there wasn’t a big difference from the leaders, althogh we have to understand how to continue improving.
I was riding well with the wet track, and after a while I began making up ground pretty well.
I was starting to think about passing the group ahead of me, but then the track began drying and I started to lose traction.
I tried to figure out how to improve, but in the end, given that the gap was growing, I just tried to manage my advantage over the riders behind me.
We had some difficulties this morning, but in the afternoon we definitely went much better.
I worked hard these few days to find a feeling with the bike, and I can say that I’m more comfortable with the one that I’m used to.
We were able to collect data and taken an eighth-place finish, so I’m pretty satisfied.
Thanks very much to the whole team for their hard work over these days, as this result is obviously down to them.
” Stefan Bradl – 10thMy start was pretty good and I think that our pace was not so bad because we were able to race with the top group.
Then during the race I could not see properly and had to open the visor many times.
So for me it was a bit tough to do the perfect line and I crashed because I touched the white line.
After that I was lucky because I was able to push the engine back riding with acceptable lap times.
Actually we are back on our speed but we have some bad luck.
In any case we are fast in the dry and in the wet so I am looking forward to Mugello which is one of my favourite race tracks”.
Andrea Iannone – 11th“This race was very difficult.
I started well and tried not to lose ground on the top riders, but then I made some mistakes.
I went long in turn six three or four times and lost time.
I realized that it wasn’t safe to continue at that pace, so I backed off a bit.
The positive side is that my arm doesn’t hurt anymore, so I’m just waiting to remove the stitches.
Considering that we weren’t even sure we’d be able to race today, it didn’t go badly all things considered.
Looking ahead to Mugello, I’ll have to catch up a bit on my training in order to show up in good shape and have a good race.
In the end, I was able to get some good experience in the wet, which I hadn’t been able to do so far this season, and we collected other good data that will be useful for the future.
”Aleix Espargaró – 13th“At the start of the weekend we found it hard to find pace; this track has never been one of my favourites, and the cold made it tricky to find the best setup.
Finally, in qualifying we got what we were looking for with the setup, and knew what we had to do if the race was dry.
We still hadn’t ridden in the wet this year, however.
That meant that we had a few surprises in the rain today and, although everything went ok, I had to fight against my bike for a large part of the race because the electronics weren’t working as I had expected.
The bike was sliding around a lot and the traction control was hampering me, but we were able to stay upright and finish as the best CRT.
We are ninth overall after four races, are doing a fabulous job and I am very happy.
I hope that we continue this way.
”Karel Abraham – 15th“It’s just one point, but I’m happy to get it.
I got a really good start, and I was behind De Puniet and Espargaro on the first lap.
I was a bit disappointed when I was finally overtaken by Petrucci, and I know I should have stayed in front.
But that would have been very risky – and in my situation I couldn’t really afford it.
The important thing is that we now go to Mugello in a better frame of mind.
”Colin Edwards – 16th“Had a good start of the race and in the first lap it just kind of started coming around on me that I had no traction control taking over and that had me a little nervous.
At that point I knew I had to do the race old school, which is no problem, just have to do everything with the wrist.
Had a couple of hairy moment the first two laps and then once everything started coming in and the line started to dry up I just put my head down and when I started hearing the electronics I pushed as hard as I could.
It got to a point, and I think everybody was in a similar boat, in which the soft tires on a drying track after in a twenty six laps race was very hard on the tires, the last 12 laps you couldn’t really do anything other than staying on the bike.
We qualified seventeenth yesterday and finished sixteenth today but at the end of the day we have some good information for rain setup.
We haven’t spent much time in the rain with this bike and now we have some information to go back to.
”Bryan Staring – DNF“I made a rookie mistake and ruined the opportunity to get some valuable experience in the wet on this bike so I am really angry with myself right now.
I needed to ride a steady race and instead we’ve ended up with nothing to show.
I want to apologise to the team because their efforts this weekend deserved a better result.
I will try to make it up to them at Mugello in a couple of weeks’ time.
”Randy De Puniet – (DNF) “I started the race very well and was son on Aleix’s tail.
When he ran wide I took advantage to pass him and set my own pace.
However, midway through the race I began to lose visibility.
I don’t know exactly, why, but the film of my visor steamed up and I couldn’t see clearly.
I have no idea what caused it, but I couldn’t even take shelter behind my screen because I couldn’t see a thing.
On lap sixteen, going into a corner, I lost the front and crashed.
I wasn’t going any faster than on the previous lap, but I suppose I must have hit a damp patch that I hadn’t seen.
I am annoyed, because I think that we could have been the top CRT today.
Instead, we’re on a run of two races without a point.
It is tough, but we have to move on and focus on the next race.
”Claudio Corti – DNF“I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike at the beginning of the race and after only seven laps I was forced to retire because of an engine failure after only seven laps.
The race didn’t go well at all; we had no data to refer to in rain conditions so far this season with this bike and that resulted in us not having the right setting and we had a problem with the engine.
I think I could have been fighting with Aoyama and Barbera but I didn’t have the chance to do so.
I am now looking forward to Mugello, our home race and keep the team’s spirit up.
We have to be remain confident and do good at our home race.
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