Hard-earned points for Team HRC at Donington

“This morning in warmup I felt good on used tyres so I knew we had the potential to fight for a top five finish. In the Superpole race, my start wasn’t exactly the best and then I lost time in a lengthy battle with Loca. By the time I finally overtook him, a gap had opened between me and the guys ahead. I finished seventh, not a bad result all things considered, and still good for race 2 grid. I was also able to manage my arm pump issue over the short race distance. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of Race 2 when I struggled a lot physically speaking. A lack of energy and pain in my right arm made the situation quite difficult to manage. I felt a first drop in my physical performance already after five laps. So race 2 was tough, but we managed to finish top ten anyway, which isn’t bad considering we are having a consistent season but at the same time it’s frustrating because the result doesn’t reflect the potential of the bike here. P10 would be not our position today if I had not had that issue. A big thanks to the team anyway, as they do not only work very hard but support me regarding every aspect of the weekend. Leon (Camier) arranged to have a physiotherapist here to try and help me with my arm, so thanks to everyone on the team and now let’s rest up ahead of the next round.”

“This weekend has been tough for us, more so than we expected. We weren’t exactly envisaging an easy weekend, considering I’m returning after injury, surgery and a four-week break, and that this is a totally new track, but we were hoping for more, honestly. If we focus on the positives as we always try to do, we can say that we’ve been able to improve a lot over the course of the weekend and in the final race today we closed the gap to the front compared to where we were at the beginning. We don’t expect to be fighting for these positions, but it is what it is and at least we collected a lot of information while getting the maximum from this weekend. Thanks to the team for all their efforts, and now let’s look ahead to the next one.”