More rider quotes from MotoGP Estoril

We’ve got another batch of rider quotes following today’s third race of the MotoGP season at the Autodromo Fernando Pires da Silva at Estoril.
Andrea Dovizioso – 4th “I am very satisfied with my performance in today’s race and particularly with the pace I could run because I was very fast and consistent throughout.

It is a good way to end the weekend because a few small problems on Friday and Saturday meant we could not work as much as we would have liked to improve the bike.

I am happy because the target this weekend was to reduce the gap to the fastest and we managed to achieve that.
But the fact I could keep the speed for 28-laps that I was not able to find in practice is a very positive point.
It is a good fourth place but there’s no doubt starting from third on the grid hampered me at the beginning of the race because I couldn ‘t even try to stay with the leading group.

Maybe it would have been closer or maybe we could have even been with Pedrosa, but we will never know.

Now I am looking forward to racing in Le Mans because it is the home race of the Tech 3 Team and it is also a raced sponsored by Monster Energy, so everybody has a lot of motivation to do well.
”Cal Crutchlow – 5th“I’m pretty happy with fifth place but I would like to have been a bit closer to the top three like I was in Jerez.
Fair play to Andrea because he rode a great race once he passed me early on and it didn’t matter how much pressure I put on him, he never cracked.
I certainly couldn’t have done anything else to try and pass him but it is another top five finish and I am still fourth in the points.
I had a couple of issues, which didn’t help me.
I knew rear grip was going to be an issue in the race and that’s how it turned out.
I’m not really sure why so we will have to have a close look at the data to understand this.
Stopping the bike was also a bit of a problem and it felt like I was having to push a lot harder than the four in front of me to run the times.
But it was a good race with Andrea and we have carried on the momentum from the first two races and now we can look forward to Le Mans.
That’s a massive weekend for Monster and Tech 3 Yamaha, so I’ll be determined to be back fighting for the podium again.
” Alvaro Bautista – 6th“It was a tough race.
After practice I thought I had the pace to be fighting for fourth place but I didn’t have a good feeling for the front and was struggling to turn the bike.
It cost me a few valuable tenths that made me lose touch with Dovizioso and Crutchlow.
Now we will have a close look at the data and try to understand why this happened, as we ll as working on our weak point which is braking.
Sixth place isn’t a bad result but we should have been much closer to the two Yamaha Tech3 bikes.
We have a test tomorrow and that will be very useful to us.
”Stefan Bradl – 9thMy start was ok and I could make some good manoeuvres in the beginning but then I was a bit on the limit and in the middle of the race I was losing too much in the corners entries which was our problem all the time during this weekend.
Especially in the fast corners I needed to wait in opening the throttle and this cost us a lot of time.
We have never had this problem before and Spies had a better pace than us during the race but I can say this is another good weekend for me and the Team.
”Héctor Barberá – 10th“I am bitterly disappointed with today.
After a lot of hard work by the crew this weekend we started the race with a very competitive setup and I was feeling good.
On lap five I started to struggle a lot due to a physical issue with my shoulder and I wasn’t able to use the full potential of my GP12, losing the group in front of me that included Stefan Bradl and Ben Spies.
Toward the end I decided to manage my position and I preferred to take home some important points in order to remain into the top ten in the overall World Championship.
”Michele Pirro – 14th“With eight laps to go I could see on the big screen that Stoner was starting to lap people so I pushed extra hard to the end because I would have been r eally disappointed to get lapped.
I’m happy we made it to the end and I picked up my first points of the season.
Today I just tried to stay upright and make the most of what we had underneath us and hopefully in the future we can hope for more than that.
I want to thank the team for their hard work here, hopefully we can have some new stuff to work with at Le Mans.
”Danilo Petrucci – 15th“It was a difficult race because we had many problems during the practices.
I did my best and I have got one point thet is the right prize for the great work of my team.
I have to say thank you to them beacuse they were able to give me the best bike as possible for the race”.
Mattia Pasini – DNFWe didn’t get a good star in the race, but after yesterday knew that the feeling with the bike was good and that it was possible to have a good race.
Above all we knew we had good potential to make a difference to end.
Gradually I was recuperating, I was able to pass some other CRT riders and was with De Puniet and Espargaro.
I wanted to keep something for the last few laps.
Unfortunately I made ​​a mistake, I slipped and the race was gone .
All in all, though, I’m happy: the feeling with the bike has improved considerably and we are fast enough and step by step we are making progress and we’re figuring out how to run our ART.
We’re leaving for Le Mans upbeat and ready to work for further progress.
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