Vierge and Lecuona on the attack during a strong weekend at Villicum

“I think we should be very happy with the job we’ve done over the weekend. At first this was a very tough track for us, especially in sector three and four where I was really losing a lot. But the team did an amazing job, working meticulously and leaving no stone unturned. This meant that every time I went out on track, we improved a little. After FP3 we made some changes to the front of the bike that gave me the confidence to fight and recover positions in the race. We only just missed out on the third row in qualifying and starting that far back made things difficult, so that’s why it was crucial to try and improve our grid position in the Superpole race. We had a good strategy and selected the right tyre to achieve our goal. This helped us a lot in race two, in addition to a fairly good start. I caught Rinaldi and tried hard to overtake him, but he was faster than me in some parts of the track while I was quicker in others, but not enough to overtake. But it was a positive race anyway, I learned a lot over the weekend, and it was good for me and the team.”

“Today I’m both very frustrated and very happy. Frustrated because Race2 was the first race where I couldn’t make a pass unless the rider ahead had a problem. It’s true that I made a bad start to the race, and I was able to pass Bassani because he had some problems through a corner when Baz crashed out. But once I closed the gap to Xavi, I couldn’t do anything, no “clean” overtaking. Maybe with a rider who was not my team-mate I would have taken more “risks” but, in this case, I thought it was better to try to do it safely but honestly it was impossible. In the middle of the race, I decided to let the tyres “rest” a bit because the front was starting to feel a bit greasy and then, five laps before the end, I pushed again and got really close to Xavi, feeling I had something more. I was losing along the straight and wanted to overtake him and try and fight with Rinaldi as well. So, that was the frustrating part, while, if I consider the weekend overall, with P4 in qualifying and race 1 and another close-run P6 in the Superpole race, it hasn’t been bad. So thanks to the team and now it’s time to go back home, relax, recharge and focus on preparing for Indonesia.”