A solid Lecuona and a brave Vierge finish ninth and eleventh in SBK Race 1 at Misano

“This morning’s FP3 was difficult because we weren’t as competitive as we expected, honestly. I felt a bit frustrated, especially considering how promising the test had been here. In Superpole, I wouldn’t say I did a 100% perfect lap—because you can always do a little more—but it was really close to the best we could squeeze out of the bike. I was faster than I was last year, and faster than I was at the test, but still, everyone else made a bigger step forward. The gap to the top was too much. Maybe not too far from the third fastest, but definitely not where we need to be yet. As for the race, our pace was good, on the level of the group fighting for the top five, but our starting position didn’t help. Anyway, I did my best. In the first three laps I fought hard with Iannone before he crashed. Then I caught Remy (Gardner)—he was really on the limit, I think—and then he crashed too. I kept pushing and managed to close in by about a second on the group ahead, which was fighting for the top five. Our pace was similar, but I couldn’t sufficiently close the gap. In the last two laps, I decided to hold back a bit to avoid mistakes. The front was starting to close on me a lot, especially from lap 10 onwards, and I didn’t want to risk a stupid crash. So, it’s not exactly what we hoped for, but we take the positives and feel confident for tomorrow.”

“Of course, I’m not fully happy, but we have to be satisfied because just a couple of weeks ago I was almost sure I’d miss this race. So being here and finishing just outside the top ten is very positive. That said, there’s still work to do. Sometimes the feeling at the rear changes a lot without us actually making any modifications to the bike’s setup, and that’s something we really need to understand. It wasn’t a matter of the injured foot, so it’s an issue we have to get on top of. The race itself wasn’t bad. In the beginning, I felt quite good. Then, around mid-race, I started to struggle—physically, of course, and also with the feeling on the bike. But nothing dramatic. The important thing is that the team is working super hard, and we’ve already planned some things to test in warmup. Hopefully, that will help us close the gap to the guys in front.”