MotoGP riders and Team Managers speak out after Mugello MotoGP
MotoGP 2017 – Round Six – Mugello – Italian GP
Andrea Dovizioso – P1
“It was a fantastic day for me but it had started badly after a sleepless night because I had a bit of food poisoning. Today I didn’t have much energy, but I knew that the bike was going to be strong, because we had worked well throughout the weekend and I also had a lot of support from my fans, physiotherapist and family and this made a big difference. Despite the fact that I wasn’t at 100%, I was able to administer the race even though I wasn’t the quickest man out there, but I did a perfect strategy, and I moved into the right position at the right moment. I rode really smoothly, I never forced the pace excessively and this made all the difference because Mugello is a track that physically wears you out and in any case the tyres did not allow me to push too hard. Finally we did it: winning at Mugello is really something special!”
Maverick Vinales – P2
“Honestly, I‘m so happy and pleased, because today was a day to stay on the bike. When I saw Valentino fall back and with Marc not being there at the front, I thought “OK today is the day to take second place and bring home a lot of points”, which is really important after the crash on Friday. Being on the bike was already very lucky, because it was a fast crash and my arm was hurting a lot, so I‘m very pleased for today‘s result. I was only feeling pain when the bike was moving but for most of the race I was feeling really good, I was at 100%. I was, as always, preparing to push on the last five laps and make my best rhythm of the race, but like I said, today was a good day to stay on the bike.”
Valentino Rossi – P4
“I knew that today‘s race would be more difficult than usual for me. While on the bike I rode well and I didn’t have pain, but I was struggling a bit and I knew that 23 laps would be long and hard. I tried my best, I did a perfect start and I led the race for some laps, but I couldn’t really ride the way I would have liked to. At the end I tried to stay close to the riders in front, but I did not have the power to attack Danilo. I would have liked a lot to be on the podium today, but there was nothing I could do. It‘s a bit disappointing that I’m not on the podium at Mugello, but seeing where I was few days ago, and the big hit I took, it‘s been a positive weekend all in all. Being here and riding in front of so many fans was a “gift”. Now we have just few days before Catalunya, another important race, so I will try to recover and be in perfect shape in Barcelona.”
Álvaro Bautista – P5
“Today it was important to make it to the end of the race, after the two non-finishes in the last two races in Jerez and Le Mans, where we could have done well. We needed to finish. I had good pace, but I lost some positions at the beginning because I was a little stiff. Then, I started to relax and pick up my rhythm, and little by little I was passing the riders ahead. When I caught Marc Márquez, I thought about pushing to see if I could leave him behind, but he hooked on and it was difficult. Lap by lap the variation in the gap to the lead was very small but it served as reference. On the last lap, I tried to close all the doors to prevent him passing me, I did it and now I can say I finished fifth. I am happy to finish the race and especially to do it in this way. This was a real fifth position, not down to problems for other riders like in Argentina, where we were fourth. It gives us a real boost of morale for Barcelona.”
Marc Marquez – P6
“I started the race strong because I knew the first laps were important, so I tried to fight. At first I was able to do it, but after a while I started struggling with the front tyre in the corners, and I was also getting caught on the straight by the others. We chose the medium front spec because we knew that with the hard option, which I felt better with, we wouldn’t have finished the race. In fact, with the hard front option being asymmetric, in this case the medium spec was harder on the right side than the hard spec, and the Mugello track stresses the right side more. But at a certain point, I started feeling I was struggling too much in the corners, so I decided to stay there and not risk crashing. The situation allowed us to finish sixth. This is an up-and-down championship, so we must keep working hard and look to improve.”
Johann Zarco – P7
“It was a great race for me here in Mugello and I am happy with the end result. I started from 11th on the grid, which made things more difficult because I didn’t have the advantage that I had in Le Mans with my qualifying position. However, I was able to keep the pace and control my rhythm but it was tricky to overtake Iannone because his acceleration was slightly better and his braking was also very strong. It took a long time to get past him and as a result, I lost contact with Marquez and Bautista and this was the group that was fighting for 5th. When I overtook Iannone, I expected to catch the two riders in front of me quite quickly, yet, I was tired because I had to force the bike a lot and I felt that my tyres had dropped a little. However, in the last five laps the group behind me caught up, but I had a great feeling on the bike and the hard tyre was working really well again, as was the front, and this meant that I could push and save this 7th position. The result is a positive thing because it was a tricky weekend and we tried to find a solution to some of the sliding issues but it was not so easy. However, once again, I gained a lot of knowledge and I gave it everything that I had, so we can leave Mugello feeling satisfied.”
Jorge Lorenzo – P8
“Obviously I can’t be satisfied with my race today. Even though I got off to a good start and I led a race for the first time this year, unfortunately lap after lap my pace started to slow. I continue to lose time under braking and for the moment I can’t get the best out of the bike’s assets, but above all I can’t be fast through the corner, which is one of my strong points, and today I was passed several times on the inside without being able to react. The positive thing about the race is that Andrea won and Danilo came third, demonstrating that today the Ducati was the best bike on the track. Back on Friday I said that the bike was good enough to win and I’m happy for Dovizioso because he deserved it.”
Michele Pirro – P9
“Unfortunately I ruined my good performance in practice and qualifying with a pretty bad start, and ending up thirteenth at the first corner from fourth on the grid certainly didn’t help matters much. From then on I tried to make my own pace, but we all had more or less the same speed and the battling between us did not allow me to make up many positions. In the end I finished the race just behind Jorge and that’s not bad, but above all I’m pleased because we worked well and we were consistently fast throughout the weekend.”
Andrea Iannone – P10
“I’m satisfied with the first part of the race. I was able to recover, overtake, and fight. Later when the tyre performance dropped, the bike changed its behaviour and I struggled to manage the situation at that time. I likewise struggled with the braking and with the cornering speed; this last one is one of the strengths of my GSX-RR, but when the tyres drop the situation changes. This is something we are working on, this race itself gave us information and ideas to work on. It’s sad for me not having a better performance at a circuit like Mugello, because I’ve grown accustomed to being very, very competitive here. The qualifying also affected the race result. Anyway we are working hard; we already have some ideas, and I hope in Barcelona we will make some more solid improvements.”
Tito Rabat – P11
“I am very happy with this result because this is the closest I have finished to the front guys in MotoGP. After the start I was able to stay with Cal Crutchlow for many laps and I was pushing 100%. Then towards the end Dani Pedrosa was just ahead but I was losing some rear grip and was getting very tired so I decided to make sure I finished the race.”
Jonas Folger – P13
“I can’t hide my disappointment about today but I did my best to recover as much as possible. The issue that is limiting me is the beginning section of the race and we are unsure about how to improve the situation at the moment. We are always able to make a fast lap during the weekend, but during the GP here, I struggled to stay consistent and ride decent lap times at the start. It was not a good day and I want to move on from this. Now I have to check and find a solution so that we can step up and go faster when the lights go out. We will keep working and I will try my best once again in Catalunya.”
Hector Barbera – P14
“I’m not happy. Overall we had a very good weekend, but the race today has been a disaster. I think we went wrong with our tyre choice and I was the one who wanted to race with the hardest compound. But as it turned out in the race, I had no grip. The two Ducatis on the podium today were using the medium compound front and rear, so it is clear that we have made a bad choice. It’s disappointing that we can’t confirm our progress with a good race result. Every time we have everything working in the right way we seem to hit a wall. Now we have to forget this race and think about Barcelona.”
Jack Miller – P15
“Scoring a point today is bonus considering from the start of the weekend I just didn’t feel on the pace with a lack of front grip and confidence. But it was a solid result with no crashes and I did the best I could in the race. Now I’m looking forward to doing the Barcelona race next weekend and being fit for the second of the back-to-back races.”
Karel Abraham – P16
“It has been a bittersweet weekend because we started out on Friday still with a lot of problems that we had been unable to solve in Barcelona, we didn’t make much progress on Saturday but today we were able to run very consistent and quite fast lap times. Unfortunately there was a big gap to the group in front of me, which was Miller, Barberá and Folger, and even though I was making similar lap times to them it was too late to catch them. There was a big gap behind me too so I kind of rolled off for the last couple of laps. I’m disappointed we didn’t get that one point, but on the other hand we were in last place on Friday with big problems so we made an important step that we can be please with. Now we go to Barcelona and despite the problems we had there in the test I hope the progress we made here at Mugello can see us back up there fighting for the points again.”
Sylvain Guintoli – P17
“This has been a stronger race than at Le Mans. I’m happy about this. I was able to fight in the race, overtake, battle, and finish the race lapping consistently with nearly the same time as in the beginning. I’m still adapting to the MotoGP class, and I’m happy for today; we reduced the gap from the leader and this makes the race a positive one for me. Day after day I feel the GSX-RR becoming “more mine”. Now I can enjoy overtaking, feeling the power of the engine, and basically have fun, which is the best way to achieve positive results. “
Loris Baz – P18
“It’s been a very difficult day and I’ve crash pretty hard in the warm-up this morning. My mechanics have done a great job to get my bike ready for the race, but the problem is that I had the bike and the engine that I liked less. At the beginning of the race I had a hard time to follow the other riders in acceleration. And after five laps I’ve started to feel bad, with pain in my arms and a strong headache, which is rare for me. I only hope to recover to the maximum for next Friday because I want to give it all at Barcelona.”
Sam Lowes – P19
“I expected to be able to do a better race today, because in the first 6 laps I felt very much at ease. I was able to overtake several riders, lapping at good times straight away, even dropping below 1’49”. At a certain point I began to lose the good feeling with the front end and so I struggled to maintain a good pace. It was a situation that conditioned me for the rest of the race. It’s a pity because throughout the weekend I had never noticed this type of problem. In any case, I want to look at the various positive sides that came out this weekend. I am happy to have finished the race and to have achieved a lap time that was actually only one second off the best. I am learning a lot in every race and we are moving in the right direction.”
Bradley Smith – P20
“We kept on working on the bike right up until the race, but when I started it was with a slightly different setting that took me a little too long to get the right feeling with before I started to pull in the gap to Abraham and Baz. Unfortunately the rear brake started to give me trouble from the half way point before I then had nothing. For the KTM it’s crucial to make the bike work with a rear brake so it’s a frustrating way to finish the weekend but, we learnt a great deal and around such a difficult, technical track, that’s so similar to Austin, I think we did a better job here than in the USA. Looking forward, we now move on the Catalunya in a few days time and fight on.”
Dani Pedrosa – DNF
“We’ve been struggling with lack of grip since the beginning of the weekend, and today in the race it was even worse. I felt no grip since the start, either at the front or the rear, and I got passed by many riders with no possibility to fight back. The bike was shaking a lot even on the straight, and basically I wasn’t able to manage it. It was a long race. Ultimately I crashed on the last lap trying to overtake Cal, and I took him out. I’m sorry for that because it’s not good when you make a mistake and someone else pays for it. Luckily, we’re both okay after the crash, so we’ll take this and look forward to the next race. Hopefully we’ll have a better feeling in Catalunya.”
Cal Crutchlow – DNF
“These things happen in racing. Obviously at the time I was annoyed with Dani (Pedrosa) and he was clearly frustrated with the position he was in. But we were all suffering this weekend on the Hondas and the end result was that we crashed and that’s it. He came from a long way back, I didn’t hear him but suddenly I saw him and then was on top of him! “It was a shame as I was happy enough in the race today, I felt quite good and never pushed over the limit. I was making sure I was going to finish the race and managing the situation with the front tyre. When we tested there (Barcelona) the other week it seemed really difficult, it could have been our worst circuit, but now we’ve come here and maybe thought this was our worst circuit! So the next round at Barcelona will be really difficult for us as well, the only saving grace is that our bike likes to slide a lot and we can normally do decent lap times at the end of a race with the bike sliding.”
Aleix Espargaro – DNF
“It is a real pity. For the first time in my career I made a jump start and that is not what we needed. First and foremost I would like to apologize to the team. This is a particularly important race for Aprilia and the RS-GP was working very well. The sensations were the best of the entire season. My pace in the low 48s after the ride through (therefore without particular motivation and without the advantage of any slipstream) shows that we could have battled for important positions. After running off track in the gravel, something wasn’t working right with gear selection, so I made a pit stop. Once again, we showed that we are fast, but we are going home without any points. Now we need to consistently get back into the positions that we deserve.”
Pol Espargaro – DNF
“It was a shame because we had an electrical problem that appeared this weekend after a big effort by the factory and the test team as Mika (Kallio) tried those pieces not too long ago so to get them here was a big effort. Thank you guys. From Friday we made good steps and we were aiming to be around 35 seconds off the win but it wasn’t to be.”
Mike Leitner – KTM Team Manager MotoGP
“We knew that in our first season we’d have days like today, but today, especially on Pol’s side, it would’ve been good to get some points but he had some electronic problem that we don’t yet know the cause of. We will analyse this but I’m sorry for him. It’s a shame as the team worked hard before this problem; they really made good progress during the practice sessions where the lap times were coming. In the race, Pol was battling with Miller and Folger before this problem appeared but then he stopped as he didn’t know what the problem was and didn’t want to risk anything. With Bradley, he was struggling a little more over the weekend but for the race he felt better on the bike, however in the end he couldn’t quite stay with the group ahead as he had a rear brake problem. Overall what is clear is that in general we are stepping forward and it looks like we have found a step forward again with the set up of the bike. We knew Mugello was going to be difficult for us, but with the overall package we are progressing.”
Michael Bartholemy – Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Team Principal
“At the beginning of the race Tito lost some time but he was much faster in the middle section and he showed all the weekend that he had the potential to do this result. Tito was the second Honda rider to finish the race. This was a difficult weekend for Jack and we were not able to give him a bike he was comfortable with so I hope we can go to Barcelona and find the pace Jack showed at the beginning of the season. We have two riders in the points, so this is a positive.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Team Director
“It has not been a very easy weekend, but after yesterday‘s qualifying we were quite confident of our performance. Today‘s race started well with Maverick and Valentino battling at the front of the field for the lead in a group of four to five riders who all maintained a similar pace. When Maverick understood that chasing the rider in first position was too risky, he decided to take home some very important points for the championship, rather than make a mistake. Knowing Valentino‘s condition when he arrived here, he rode a really great race. He was on the limit of his physical abilities today, so his fourth place is a big achievement, but in my opinion he deserved a podium, considering the effort that he put in. We will now head straight to Catalunya for the next round of the championship, where we look forward to another thrilling weekend of racing.”
Hervé Poncharal – Tech3 Yamaha Team manager
“The last sprint of the day was fantastic and the crowd must have been delighted to witness three amazing Grand Prix’s, plus MotoGP brings a show that no other sport can bring right now. It was a great day for Johann and maybe some people would think that his result is disappointing compared to the podium finish in Le Mans, but we knew that the French GP was a very special weekend. In addition, it was a tough weekend here, yet, he was by far the best rookie and finished ahead of some of the factory riders including Iannone and Lorenzo. His start was not as good as usual but he made some very interesting and exciting passes and 7th is where we were at today. The guys in front were quicker and we can all see how strong Ducati is at this track but maybe the competition will be more equal at other circuits. I am very proud of Johann and race after race he is in the front group and he fears no one. As for Jonas, today was a bit of a disappointment as he ended up in 13th and this is not where we should be. He can be as quick as his teammate, however, he today he finished 15 seconds behind Johann and he lost all of this time in the first five laps. We know that he has the speed so we have to work more on the mental side so that he can improve at the start of the races. Jonas has all of our trust and this is important, and we are all behind him. We are fully confident in his ability, but it’s about time that things moved up a bit and we want him to show us his real talent. There are only a few days before the 7th round so it will be a quick rest but we can’t wait to be in Catalunya and racing again because this is what we love.”
Claudio Domenicali (CEO of Ducati Motor Holding)
“Today’s win is a magnificent result that is just reward for all the hard work and sacrifices that everyone in Ducati Corse have done over the last few months and so I want to dedicate this splendid victory to them. At Mugello we saw two Ducati bikes and two Italian riders on the podium, with Andrea on the top step, in a fantastic race with no real retirements, and in the end the best man and bike won. Today we had an extraordinary bike and Dovizioso scored an exceptional result. This is the result of great team-work, and I think all Italians will be proud of it.”
Ken Kawauchi – Suzuki Technical Manager
“Compared to yesterday, I can say that today we got a good result. Andrea’s 10th place may appear similar to Le Mans, but in reality it was much different. This weekend we were able to find a variety of aspects on which to improve for him. My feeling is that we can take some further steps for improvement soon. Today he kept a very good pace for the first part of the race and then his rhythm dropped. However, we were able understand how this can be improved. After the Cataluña GP we will be testing many elements of the bike in order to improve acceleration and traction. Sylvain had a positive weekend as well; he improved considerably from Friday to Sunday. He was finally able to race along with other riders and this was a tremendous improvement. Also his comments are always precise and sharp, which is very helpful to us. I really appreciated the work he’s done today.”
Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager
“I think this has been a very positive race for us and I see it as a milestone on our path to growth. It’s a tenth place like at Le Mans, but it felt completely different. Andrea fought with the fastest riders and kept the gap short from the leading group. He made an extremely beneficial leap forward at the beginning of the race, successfully converting 16th place to 9th place by the first corner. He maintained the same pace as the leaders for many laps. Then his performance dropped towards the end, but we already have ideas on how to improve this issue, and it is better that we immediately go to Barcelona where we will double-check them. It seems like we were able to achieve a better feeling between the bike and the rider, and this is the most positive thing to take away from the weekend. Sylvain had an excellent race; he was able to recover positions, and fight and overtake finally. This means his feeling is improving.”
Romano Albesiano – Aprilia Racing Manager
“We are not bringing home anything, despite being clearly fast, even fifth in the race lap time rankings. The problem at the start compromised the race for Aleix who then confirmed just how competitive he and his RS-GP are. Now we are headed to Barcelona which is a good track for us, as they all are, since we have a bike that is proving to be truly strong on all the circuits and a fast rider like Aleix. If there are no problems, we can realistically aim for very high positions, but now the time has come to demonstrate our value, which by now is quite clear and acknowledged, with concrete race results.”
Fausto Gresini – Aprilia Team Manager
“It should have been a good race. We had everything we needed to make it happen, but instead it was compromised right at the start. And yet, even in these circumstances, we clearly demonstrated how high our potential is, lapping very fast. It’s a shame that it had to happen here at Mugello, but fortunately we don’t have much time to complain, because already on Sunday we will be racing in Barcelona, a circuit where we just did some positive tests, so we will have our chance for redemption straight away.”
Nicolas Goubert – Michelin
“We have had a very positive weekend here at Mugello. The stiffer construction front tyre worked well here and the riders adapted to it and produced some very fast times from the practice sessions onwards. Our range of different compounds again created many choices for the riders and gave them something they could use, no matter what their riding style or bike. We are constantly striving to improve and we have a marker from last year of our own results to aim for, so to get another race duration record for the second event in succession is also a very pleasing outcome for all involved. It was a special atmosphere here today and one that was good to be a part of, we hope that this continues for the rest of the year and the racing is as good as it was today. We now head to Spain and another important race, we had a good test there recently so we know what to expect and have the tyres to cope with the conditions. We also have another test after the race weekend at the same track, so we will be looking to gather more information from that.”
MotoGP 2017 – Round Six – Mugello – Italian GP – MotoGP Race Results
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 25 Ducati Team 41’32.126
- VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 20 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1.281
- PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 16 Octo Pramac Racing 2.334
- ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 13 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 3.685
- BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 11 Pull&Bear Aspar Team 5.802
- MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 10 Repsol Honda Team 5.885
- ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 9 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 13.205
- LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 8 Ducati Team 14.393
- PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 7 Ducati Team 14.880
- IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 6 Team Suzuki Ecstar 15.502
- RABAT Tito 53 SPA 5 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 22.004
- REDDING Scott 45 GBR 4 Octo Pramac Racing 24.952
- FOLGER Jonas 94 GER 3 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 28.160
- BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 2 Reale Avintia Racing 30.676
- MILLER Jack 43 AUS 1 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 30.779
- ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 0 Pull&Bear Aspar Team 42.306
- GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA 0 Team Suzuki Ecstar 46.294
- BAZ Loris 76 FRA 0 Reale Avintia Racing 50.731
- LOWES Sam 22 GBR 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 50.740
- SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 50.897
- CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 0 LCR Honda 1 lap
- PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team 1 lap
- ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 8 laps
- ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 10 laps
MotoGP 2017 – Round Six – Mugello – Italian GP – MotoGP Championship Points Standings
- VINALES Maverick SPA 105 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 79 Ducati Team
- ROSSI Valentino ITA 75 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA 68 Repsol Honda Team
- PEDROSA Dani SPA 68 Repsol Honda Team
- ZARCO Johann FRA 64 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- LORENZO Jorge SPA 46 Ducati Team
- PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 42 Octo Pramac Racing
- FOLGER Jonas GER 41 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 40 LCR Honda
- REDDING Scott GBR 30 Octo Pramac Racing
- MILLER Jack AUS 30 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS
- BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 25 Pull&Bear Aspar Team
- IANNONE Andrea ITA 21 Team Suzuki Ecstar
- BAZ Loris FRA 19 Reale Avintia Racing
- RABAT Tito SPA 18 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 17 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
- BARBERA Hector SPA 14 Reale Avintia Racing
- ABRAHAM Karel CZE 9 Pull&Bear Aspar Team
- PIRRO Michele ITA 7 Ducati Team
- RINS Alex SPA 7 Team Suzuki Ecstar
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA 6 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- SMITH Bradley GBR 6 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- LOWES Sam GBR 2 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
- GUINTOLI Sylvain FRA 1 Team Suzuki Ecstar
