Small improvements and room for more for Team HRC at Magny-Cours

“I’m very happy to be passed fit today after a big crash like the one I had yesterday, and a big thanks to the doctors at the track and to Medical Director Monica (Lazzarotti) who followed and supported me during all the medical check procedures. I am of course experiencing some pain all over my body, but nothing that couldn’t be managed - we are used to these situations after all. It definitely didn’t affect our results today, which are in line with our current level, so all in all I think we were able to achieve the best possible outcome, also considering the grid penalty. That was deserved by the way, because I made a mistake on my last lap and cut the chicane. I did check to see if another rider was coming and braked before re-joining the track but didn’t spot Alvaro between corner 11 and 12. Anyway, as I said, I don’t think we could have done any better than this even if we’d started one row further forward so we must just continue working hard to try and improve. We might have made a little step forward compared to last year, but the other riders have made a bigger one. With the addition of even more fast riders, the level is currently very high, and we need a change of pace to be able to fight up front. As for tomorrow, we’ll keep focusing on the task in hand and on doing our best with what we have right now.”

“I’m at a bit of a loss for words at the moment because it’s not easy to accept we are struggling to fight just to reach the points zone. This is of course not what we want as a rider, a team and as a factory. This morning we improved on our best time of yesterday by more than a second, it’s true, but the guys ahead did the same so the gap to the front didn’t really change. During the race I tried to fight and made a few passes, but I also had to make a couple of big saves, almost losing the front on several occasions. So at the moment I’m feeling very frustrated, to be honest. We need to collect our thoughts and focus on a plan to try and do better for tomorrow and in general for the future.”