Barbera “bitterly disappointed” after electronics issue destroys his qualifying chances
After a brilliant morning free practice session in which Hèctor was able to achieve a great 4th place, the Pramac Ducati rider will start tomorrow’s 25 laps of the Catalunya Grand Prix only from 11th spot on the grid after a tricky qualifying session.
The 25-year-old clocked a best time of 1’42.375 to claim a place on the 4th row, but he was just 0.6 second away from 6th place of Andrea Dovizioso on a scorching hot afternoon that saw air temperatures around 30 degrees.
In the last ten minutes of the qualifying practice, while Hèctor was pushing hard to set his fast lap time, his Ducati GP12 had some issues with the electronic setup and it switched off. The Spaniard, who went out with his second bike after the technical issue on the better one, tried to improve his laptime, but he didn’t have the same feeling with this machine and he wasn’t able to lower his time.
Despite that, tomorrow when the lights go out at 14:00 CET Hèctor and the Pramac Team will try to make a good start and fight for a satisfying place in the Grand Premi de Catalunya.
Hèctor Barberà – 11th place in 1’42.375
“I’m bitterly disappointed with today. The 11th place is too far from what I was looking for. Unfortunately toward the end of today’s qualifying practice I struggled with a technical issue which forced me to use the second bike which I had never ridden during this weekend so I obviously didn’t have a suitable setup to ride at 100%. I lost a great chance today, but the most important appointment will be tomorrow with the race and I’m ready to fight for a position that suits me and my crew.”
Francesco Guidotti – Pramac Racing Team Manager
“Unfortunately, after the promising result this morning in the last free practice session, we made a step back during the qualifying. The electronic issue on the bike slowed down our work and this result is definitely not up to our capacity. Tomorrow Hèctor should make a great start to fight for a good final place.”
Source: Pramac Racing
