Barbera more than happy with brilliant fifth place: “It feels like a pole position for me!”
The 2012 Gran Premi de Catalunya kicked off today under blazing sunshine that made a change from the recent tricky weather conditions which affected the last three races.
With higher track temperature (around 51° Celsius) compared to the morning session, in the afternoon Hèctor was able to significantly improve both the laptime and the position on the timesheet, clocking a best time of 1’42.639 and achieving a brilliant 5th place.
During today’s practice session the Pramac Team worked in particular with the electronic setup of their Ducati GP12, changing a few things on the bike in order to give Hèctor more confidence to ride in the best way possible.
Tomorrow Hèctor and his crew will fight to get the highest place possible on the grid during the qualifying session.
Hèctor Barberà – 5th place – 1’43.624
“I’m very happy with how the day has gone: 5th place and less than 0.5 seconds behind the fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo. It feels like a pole position for me! During the morning session we worked tirelessly to fix our issues with the bike, especially with the electronic setup, and during the second free practice session these changes were confirmed, allowing us to wrap it up with this amazing place on the timesheet. Now I have to say thanks again to my guys, because they have worked really well one more time and this enabled me to achieve 5th place today”.
Francesco Guidotti – Pramac Racing Team Manager “I’m proud and satisfied with the work done by my crew. This morning we worked on the setting of our GP12, looking for a compromise between the electronics and chassis of the bike. We found it and we were able to make a big step forward. Hèctor made a great job, taking advantage of the Ducati’s potential and setting two fast laptimes, but we need to work hard also tomorrow.”
Source: Pramac Racing