Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/833352
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6 / JUNE 2-4, 2017 MUGELLO CIRCUIT / TUSCANY, ITALY P100 My Own Race: 99 JORGE LORENZO 8TH MOTOGP "Obviously I can't be satisfied with my race today," said Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo of his eighth place. "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." 41 ALEIX ESPARGARO N/C MOTOGP A jump start ruined Aleix Espargaro's day but a small consolation for him and his Aprilia team was that he set the fifth-quickest lap time of the race. "It is a real pity," Espar- garo said. "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." 26 DANI PEDROSA N/C MOTOGP "We've been struggling with lack of grip since the beginning of the weekend, and today in the race it was even worse," said Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa. "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 [Crutchlow], 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." 41 BRAD BINDER 10TH MOTO2 Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsports' Brad Binder was happy with 10th after returning from injury. "Yesterday I had a hard time riding the bike; my arm hurt a lot and I had no energy," he said. "Thanks to the team, Doctor Mir, the Clinica Mobile and my physios that have helped me to feel strong and get to the race. Today, I don't know how, but after 10 laps my left arm was very tired and the effort I had to expend with the right to compensate took its toll on me with five laps to go. Having come back from the injury with this result is something to be very happy about. Now I just have to keep working, try to recover the strength in my left arm to be 100% fit as soon as possible." 29 ANDREA IANNONE 10TH MOTOGP "I'm satisfied with the first part of the race. I was able to recover, overtake, and fight," said Team Suzuki Ecstar's Andrea Iannone. "Later when the tire performance dropped, the bike changed its behavior 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 tires 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."