MotoGP Rider Quotes
MotoGP 2018 – Round 10 – Brno
Andrea Dovizioso – P1- 113 points
“It was an incredible win! Before this weekend I was excited because I felt that we could do well, but I never expected such a spectacular victory. I was very quick right from the first session on Friday, yesterday I did an awesome qualifying, today in the race I had a perfect strategy, and so I’m very pleased with everything. I managed the race lap by lap, trying to interpret what was happening around me and see how the other guys were riding: I raced well without ever misusing the rear tyre and, even though I was having a bit of difficulty in the final stages, in any case I was able to fight off Jorge and Marc, who today were both really on top form.”
Jorge Lorenzo – P2 – 105 points
“I’m very happy about my second place but also for the team’s 1-2 result and I’m very proud about the way we were able to overturn the situation from Friday, when we were in a bit of difficulty. Bit by bit we improved the bike to make it very competitive and we found a setting and a strategy for the race that worked well. Today I managed the situation calmly, because it was vital to look after the tyres and get to the end of the race in the best possible condition in order to try and attack and play my cards. I was feeling good and the bike was very stable, but I was struggling a bit in acceleration and it was a pity because I could have fought for the win, but my pass on Marquez two laps from the end allowed Dovizioso to gain a small advantage and it wasn’t possible to pass Andrea, who did a really great race.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
“We’re obviously very pleased, especially because unlike our closest rival, we didn’t have the advantage of having tested here in Brno and so finishing first and second is an amazing result. I believe that it clearly demonstrates the great job we’ve done to give our riders a competitive bike and I’d like to thank everyone in Ducati Corse, both back in Borgo Panigale and at the track. It was an awesome, exciting race, and both Andrea and Jorge were so good today!”
Marc Marquez – P3 – 181 points
“Our target for the weekend was to extend our lead in the Championship, and we achieved that. We arrived here with a 46-point edge, and we leave with 49, which is very good. Already yesterday I was expecting that Lorenzo and Dovi would be the strongest opponents, maybe with Valentino, and they were all there today. I was ready to fight as well, but honestly it was difficult to fight against the two Ducatisti as they had strong acceleration and braking stability. I tried but it wasn’t possible, so we took this positive third place. Today was my 100th race in MotoGP, and I used the experience that comes with that; if it had been my second or third MotoGP race, I probably would have tried for the win and either got it or crashed, but it was the 100th and I used wisdom. Third is my worst useable result this year, and I’m happy with it because we finished very close to the top at a track where we often struggle. I’m confident, as better tracks for us will come.”
Valentino Rossi – P4 – 132 points
“I think that at the end for me it was a good race because I made a good start, a good first few laps, and I always stayed in the front group. The problem was that I wasn’t fast enough to fight with Dovizioso, Marquez, and Lorenzo. I didn’t have enough pace, unfortunately, and that was a shame because I wanted to try to arrive on the podium, for sure. At the end I did a very good battle with Cal. I was able to overtake him in the last chicane and recovered one place, but it wasn’t enough for the podium.”
Cal Crutchlow – P5 – 90 points
“I wanted to get third place and have a bit of room to slide, but I had people right behind me. (Jorge) Lorenzo did a fantastic job today to come through and get where he got. I ran out of rear tyre today, I couldn’t exit the corners like them (the leading three riders), I picked the bike up a lot, but it was the floating in the middle of the corner with a used rear tyre that was our problem. That seems to be the only difference between mine and Marc’s (Marquez) bike and we need to improve that. But we’re looking forward to Austria, my team did a fantastic job and so did Honda because this has never been a real strong track for Honda. We have to be pleased, to be in there in the battle, way ahead of Dani (Pedrosa) which is one thing that is important in my team and my result. We achieved a good result today, although I’m disappointed to miss the podium.”
Danilo Petrucci – P6 – 94 points
“I did well in the race. I’m happy for this weekend. Perhaps I could have taken a few more points but I go to Austria with great confidence. I’m very happy for Ducati, I feel I’ve given a good contribution”.
Johann Zarco – P7 – 97 points
“The race was good – P7 like the Qualifying. I tried to overtake at the beginning of the race, but it was complicated as the others were quite strong and I was not able to do exactly the same riding like them. So, to stay with them, I was sliding a lot and then I had to slow down a little bit. In the second part of the race I found a better pace to follow this group and almost caught them to fight, but I was a bit too close to the limit. At the end of the race, the bike was still under control, but I think I didn’t have enough positive points to overtake Danilo (Petrucci). I just had to finish the race and be happy with that. From yesterday, my feeling on the bike is getting back better and better and I could see in the race that I was very close to the podium since a long time. Something was missing, but now I’m sure I can find it with my team, because we have many races in a row now and not a lot of rest, which will be an advantage to step forward.”
Dani Pedrosa – P8 – 57 points
“I wasn’t comfortable on the bike and I wasn’t able to exit fast from the corners, so I was trying to recover in the entries. I was doing kind of an elastic effect. Just at the end, when the other riders’ tyres dropped and they couldn’t be so effective on acceleration, I was able to make a couple of passes. It’s not easy to ride that way, but tomorrow we have a test here and I hope we can work to be able to be faster on acceleration.”
Alvaro Bautista – P9 – 51 points
“It was a race of two halves: In the first I had the worst feeling that I’ve had in recent races, but in the second half there was a radical change and I set the fastest lap of the race until the three riders on the podium bested it late on. The strange thing about today was the start: I got off the line well but I was not able to stop the bike, and I almost crashed three or four times. I wasn’t comfortable, and I thought we had lost the race because it was impossible to ride. However, in the second half I managed to go fast and I was able to fight for the Top 8, but I was only able to overtake two of the three riders in the group; I needed one more lap to overtake Pedrosa. I’m happy with the second part of the race, but we have to analyse the first half, because we could have done just as well as in Germany and fight for the Top 5.”
Andrea Iannone – P10 – 81 points
“For sure I expected more from this race, but in any case I tried my best. I pushed from the beginning at 100% and I remained pushing until the end of the race, so it’s difficult for us. I hope we’ll have a bit more potential in the next races and we’ll remain a bit closer from the second half of the race until the end. This is the most important thing to focus on because we’re losing out in the second part of the races and struggle on the acceleration points with spinning. We have good potential but not in every area yet, tomorrow we’ll work on some things during the test.”
Alex Rins – P11 – 58 points
“It was a really hard race, and very long. We struggled on corner exit, with a lack of traction. Tomorrow we’ll work hard to try and improve this problem so that next time we can be with the front group. Sincerely, I hoped this race would not be so hard and that I could stay with the group more easily, but it was hard to overtake. The last six laps were very difficult. We’ll try to find the solutions so that we can bring the bike back on the podium in the next races.”
Jack Miller – P12 – 61 points
“It was a difficult race. The qualifying didn’t help me and I had some problems in the first lap. We can do better but the feeling with the bike is very good and the team is doing a great job. I can’t wait to be in Austria”.
Franco Morbidelli – P13 – 22 points
“I’m happy to get this position today although I had to recover some positions after a poor start. I was actually a little scared on the opening lap with the behaviour of some riders but then everything became calmer. In the second half of the race I just concentrated on holding my position behind Jack Miller, I was losing the front in some corners, so this is a good result on my comeback from injury.”
Hafizh Syahrin – P14 – 24 points
“In the beginning I felt really good with the bike and I was very close to Bautista. But after the middle of the race, the bike got nervous on the exit of the corners, I don’t know why. I tried to understand, but it was difficult for me to fight like this, although I tried to control the bike and work with my body. For sure it was very tiring. Now I try to come back stronger from the test tomorrow. We try to find a solution and I aim to continue working in this way. I collected two points more and it’s still very close to Morbidelli, but I try to make a good race next week.”
Aleix Espargaro’ – P15 – 17 points
“It was not a good weekend for us, to be honest. I did not expect all of these difficulties. The RS-GP performed differently compared to last year, especially in terms of the front end. When I go into corners and release the brakes, I struggle to turn and if I push, I risk crashing. We could have risked using a softer tyre, but in the end the team opted for the more conservative solution. All things told, I think that it could have been a good choice, but decisions are taken as a team, for better or for worse. Tomorrow we have an important day of tests. I am rather tired and sore, but I want to try to change the balance of the bike significantly to recover the right feeling with the Aprilia.”
Tom Luthi – P16 – 0 points
“It was a good race apart from a couple of mistakes I made on the first lap and then lost too much time behind Sylvain Guintoli to have a chance trying to be with Alien Espargaro who finished 15th. But my rhythm was consistent and I was closer to the top guys than in recent races so this was positive.”
Takaaki Nakagami – P17 – 10 points
“I had a good start and had a good position into turn one and two, but at turn three there was a crash ahead of me and no space. I had to brake and come together with Maverick (Vinales) and I was lucky to stay on the track, but I lost a lot of position. After that our plan was to lap in the mid to high 57s, but I couldn’t keep that pace on all the laps so I tried to change the mapping and my riding style to improve the lap times, but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. I’m sorry for the team, because everybody tried to give me the best bike, but this weekend I found it difficult to adapt to the MotoGP bike.”
Karel Abraham – P18 – 4 points
“It’s hard for me to say it, because I think a rider can always push a little more, but I think we gave our all today. The start was not bad, but in the third corner there was an incident between several riders. I was a bit cautious then and several rivals overtook me. Little by little I regained positions until I caught Nakagami, who was already far away. I got in front of Guintoli but I had problems with the rear and the bike cut the power, so he came back and overtook me. I needed to change the race mapping, but couldn’t until several laps later according to our strategy. When I could do that, I regained my position along with Guintoli. It’s a shame we weren’t able to reach Nakagami and Luthi, because I think I could have fought with them.”
Sylvain Guintoli – P19 – 0 points
“The race was really difficult. I knew it was going to be tough as I’ve ridden with injuries in the past, but this is quite bad and has been getting worse through the weekend. The Clinica Mobile helped me to try and take the edge off the pain. But it was still painful handling ‘the beast’ for 21 laps! It was a long race, I tried to get myself within 40 seconds of the leader and we weren’t far off. I wanted to finish the race and I’m happy because I got that job done. Grip was tricky during the race with the heat, and hopefully we can work on this tomorrow.”
Xavier Simeon – P20 – 0 points
“I honestly think that this was a good race. I had a very good start, I recovered a number of positions on the first lap and I felt good on the bike. But five or six laps from the end, the rear tyre performance dropped and it was difficult to continue the battle with Abraham and Guintoli. Apart from that, the race went well and I saw things that will be useful in the next races to come. Now we go to Austria, a circuit that should be good for Ducati. Let’s wait and see”.
Stefan Bradl – DNF – 0 points
“Unfortunately, I was just braking into turn 3 with Viñales not far ahead when I felt a blow and then found myself in the gravel. I looked around and saw that also Bradley was involved in the incident. Honestly, I didn’t understand exactly what happened. It’s a real shame because I had got a very good start and I’m sure I would have been able to recover some positions. Unfortunately, I’ve got a lot of pain pain in my right shoulder. At the Medical Centre, examination luckily ruled out fractures, but the ligaments are quite stretched. We have to see tomorrow how I feel for the test.”
Maverick Vinales – DNF – 109 points
“When I was already on the ground I was trying to pick up my bike, but it was too late. I don’t know who made the mistake, but it’s lucky in any case that I don’t have any significant injuries. It was a difficult weekend, for sure. We found a new set-up in the Warm Up and I felt really good, so I was very enthusiastic about the race. We need to stay focused and keep doing our job. I think the crash was a consequence of starting from twelfth place, so we have to pay really close attention to which direction we follow with the set-up, and let’s see what happens at the test tomorrow.”
Tito Rabat – DNF – 30 points
“This weekend was very positive until we ran into bad luck in the race. I had a phenomenal start and I think that I finally learned to start well with this motorcycle. And on the first laps, that are normally tough for me, I managed to hang on to the race leaders. But then, the bike simply stopped. We don’t know precisely what happened, but it’s a real shame because we could have scored a good result today. Even though, I repeat that I am satisfied, because I improved in areas in which I had struggled before. Now we go to Austria where I really want to show our progress in the race on Sunday.”
Scott Redding – DNF – 12 points
“Unfortunately, today’s crash was very similar to yesterday’s. We were at the limit with the hard front tyre, especially when I was riding by myself. In fact, in the early laps I was able to be rather aggressive, overtaking a few riders, but then I began to lose the feeling, especially when I released the brakes, until the crash. It seems like with this bike, the front tyre’s range of use is rather restricted. As soon as you go out of the ideal window, problems begin. I could have settled for finishing the race, but I decided to have a go anyway, pushing to the maximum.”
Hervé Poncharal – Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager
“What a race! I think today the spectators who took a few days off to come down to Czech Republic didn’t regret their trip because Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP have been fantastic fights. When the MotoGP race is like this, it’s just an unmatchable sport and show. I think the whole grid was really worried at the start because we were thinking it might be a replay of 2017 as we could hear and see that there were some thunderstorms and there was a high possibility of rain. We were more ready than last year, but anyway fortunately, we didn’t have to go through a flag-to-flag race and the track stayed dry and warm. Johann was one of the few riders on soft rear tyres. Although he said that he’s confident, I was a bit skeptical, but the first half of the race was good, he was there right at the end of the front group. Then we had two or three laps where he was losing a bit and I thought the gamble wouldn’t pay off. But then him and Bautista, the only ones on soft where the fastest for three laps in a row. So, we were more confident that it was a good choice. I was hoping he could catch the guy in front of him, but he never really managed to be that close. Overall, he had a really strong and good race. Three laps to go he was just 3.5 seconds off the front and in the last three laps he just took it home. Seventh is not too exciting, but all the top guys were there, he was in the group. I would say, it was the best race, we could have hoped for. The two factories that are on the podium are really strong at the moment. Clearly, they work very hard, but without an improvement you can not move forward. I think Johann did the best he can together with the team, he did the tyre gamble in order to have something, but on a regular base on a circuit like here where the machinery is very important, honestly there is not a lot we can do. We are a bit down to our competitors and it’s a bit frustrating, but this is the situation. We’ve been living this for many years and we continue to try our best. Johann is a fighter and we want to give him what he deserves to be in front. On Hafizh’ side there was a big battle as well, but of course less under the radar. He was fighting with his fellow rookie Franco Morbidelli. He was in front for quite a while and then Franco passed him, Hafizh followed, but there was nothing he could do to repass him. He is still leading the rookie championship, but he lost a point to Franco. This is exciting! He is learning and I think he did a really good weekend here in Czech Republic. In just a few days we’ll see what we can do in Austria.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“It wasn‘t an easy race weekend at all for our team and also the last day is filled with mixed emotions. On the one hand we had Valentino starting from first row and fighting at the front. He put in the maximum and scored the best result possible given the circumstances. Of course on the other hand we feel sorry for Maverick, who‘s race ended early, but starting from the fourth row you know accidents like today’s can happen. It‘s unfortunate that the mishap cost him his third place in the championship standings, especially since the set-up that he tried in this morning’s Warm Up gave him a really good feeling and the decision to use the soft rear tyre could have played out well. Tomorrow we have an extra day here at the Brno circuit to get some testing done.”
Ken Kawauchi – Suzuki Technical Manager
“It was a pity as the race was different to our expectations after the good performances of yesterday. Today our performance was also not so bad, the gap was very small, but in a race like this a small gap turns into this result. Despite a lot of help from our Test Rider, Sylvain, we couldn’t get the finish that we wanted. Tomorrow we have one day of testing where we’ll try to improve some things for the next race.”
Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager
“To be honest we expected more from this race because during the practice on Friday and Saturday we had good pace. We thought we could go faster, but during the race we couldn’t really keep the pace of the top group. Starting from the third row means it’s not easy to stay at the front, and then we were not able to recover. It’s not what we wanted but we’ll move forward, the next race will not be easy for us but we’re always trying to improve. Anyway, all three riders finished the race and with Andrea and Alex we’ve scored some useful points. I would like also to thank Sylvain for tracking in a painful condition. He had a good weekend and it seems he enjoyed also. Tomorrow we’ll do some testing and try to fully understand everything from today, as well as testing some new parts for the rest of the season and also for next year.”
Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager
“This has been a real complex weekend for us. We did not anticipate the extreme track temperatures we would face and the working range that the tyres would have to contend with. Due to how we have progressed during our three seasons in MotoGP the operating windows are now much larger and this was highlighted as every rear compound was a raceable option today. The durability of the tyres was a very important issue, but we knew that the tyres could withstand the 21 tough laps around here no matter what the temperature and that was proved as Jorge, Marc and Andrea set the three fastest laps respectively on the very last lap. This has been a very positive weekend for Michelin and we will now stay for the test where we have a new tyre to evaluate, before we head to Austria and another tough examination at a very unique track.”
MotoGP 2018 – Round 10 – Brno – MotoGP Results
1 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 25 Ducati Team Ducati 41’07.728
2 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 20 Ducati Team Ducati 0.178
3 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 16 Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.368
4 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 13 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 2.902
5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 11 LCR Honda Honda 2.958
6 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 10 Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 3.768
7 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 9 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 6.159
8 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 8 Repsol Honda Team Honda 7.479
9 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 7 Angel Nieto Team Ducati 7.575
10 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 6 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 8.326
11 RINS Alex 42 SPA 5 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 8.653
12 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 4 Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 16.549
13 MORBIDELLI Franco 21 ITA 3 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 19.603
14 SYAHRIN Hafizh 55 MAL 2 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 21.381
15 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 1 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 23.159
16 LUTHI Tom 12 SWI 0 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 27.673
17 NAKAGAMI Takaaki 30 JPN 0 LCR Honda Honda 28.311
18 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 0 Angel Nieto Team Ducati 41.172
19 GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA 0 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 42.411
20 SIMEON Xavier 10 BEL 0 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 50.941
1 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 25 Ducati Team Ducati 41’07.728
2 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 20 Ducati Team Ducati 0.178
3 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 16 Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.368
MotoGP World Championship Points
1 Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 181
2 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 132
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 113
4 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha SPA 109
5 Jorge LORENZO Ducati SPA 105
6 Johann ZARCO Yamaha FRA 97
7 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 94
8 Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 90
9 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki ITA 81
10 Jack MILLER Ducati AUS 61
11 Alex RINS Suzuki SPA 58
12 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 57
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati SPA 51
14 Pol ESPARGARO KTM SPA 32
15 Tito RABAT Ducati SPA 30
16 Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha MAL 24
17 Franco MORBIDELLI Honda ITA 22
18 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia SPA 17
19 Bradley SMITH KTM GBR 13
20 Scott REDDING Aprilia GBR 12
21 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda JPN 10
22 Mika KALLIO KTM FIN 6
23 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE
