Barbera “bitterly disappointed” after struggling with shoulder pain
At 13:00 local time, the Grande Premio de Portugal 2012 got underway with sunny skies and a dry track after two days of practice taking place in mixed weather conditions. Pramac Ducati rider Hector Barbera didn’t get a brilliant start and dropped from eighth to eleventh place on the first lap as he struggled to find confidence with his GP12.
On lap two Hector was able to pass factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden, but he was bound to stay in 10th place, because of a shoulder pain that didn’t allow him to get the full potential of his bike. His 10th position confirms his position in the top ten of the overall World Championship standings with 19 points after three rounds.
The Pramac Racing team will remain at Estoril tomorrow for a MotoGP test session before heading to Le Mans in two weeks’ time for round four.
Hèctor Barberà: “I am bitterly disappointed with today. After a lot of hard work by the crew this weekend we started the race with a very competitive setup and I was feeling good. On lap five I started to struggle a lot due to a physical issue with my shoulder and I wasn’t able to use the full potential of my GP12, losing the group in front of me that included Stefan Bradl and Ben Spies.
Toward the end I decided to manage my position and I preferred to take home some important points in order to remain in the top ten in the overall World Championship.”
Francesco Guidotti - Team Manager Pramac Racing
“The race was more difficult than we expected, due to a less-than-stellar start. In addition, at the beginning Hèctor struggled to overtake the rider in front of him, losing the contact with Bradl and Spies and he stayed in 10th place for the last 26 laps. Now we are focusing on the next race, which will took place in a couple of weeks in France.”
Source: Pramac Racing
