Top ten for Lecuona and Vierge in WorldSBK race 1 at Jerez

“We cannot say it has been an easy week end for us so far so this P9 is a solid result all considered. After a positive FP3, I had a so and so qualifying: I made good enough first flying lap, but with the second tyre I suffered much more spinning and I could just finish 14th. Not an easy grid place, especially here in Jerez a tricky track for overtaking. I got off to a good start when the light went off but then everybody jumped into the first corner and I just tried to “survive” in the group. Xavi overtook me I corner 2 so I decided to follow him closely while we both recover some positions through the pack. When he began to struggle halfway into the race I took my chance and passed him. The second group was a few seconds away but our pace was too similar for me to close the gap. So, I kept my position, riding a bit alone in the final laps. As I said all considered we collected some points for the Championship and let’s see tomorrow. Finally, congratulations to Alvaro Bautista for his title”.

“We must be happy with a top ten at this track, where everyone is very fast and where we have been struggling quite a lot. For us here is difficult to make the difference: we saw that in the qualifying where a very decent lap time put us just 16th place. But we know our race pace was solid so I try and make a good start and immediately recovered a few positions. I tried to catch the group in front and I think I push too much in the first half of the race and I stressed the tyres. I had no grip in the second half so I just tried to save my P10. Now let’s see if we can find a bit more for tomorrow and make a better result. Congratulations to Alvaro he made again an amazing season, always focusing on himself, and setting his own pace. At the moment he’s the strongest, at another level”.