2020 MotoGP Round Three – Brno

Monster Energy Grand Prix České Republiky Rider Quotes

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Brad Binder – P1

“Honestly, right now, I’m lost for words. I’ve dreamt of this since I was a little boy and today it came true. It is amazing to win my first GP . Thank you to everybody who supported me, and the whole team: they put an insane motorcycle beneath me today! I didn’t know if we could win but I knew we would have a go. It was the craziest ten laps of my life at the end. I was being as soft as I could. It was incredible. Unbelievable.”

Franco Morbidelli – P2

“I’m so happy, overwhelmed actually to have finished on the podium today! It was a bit of a strange race because I couldn’t push at 100% all race. At the beginning I was going quite fast, my pace was better than I expected and I was pulling away from the pack. I could see Brad catching though and knew he might be in a better position than me as he’d got the medium tyre. I didn’t try to fight because I just wanted to make sure I got the bike to the end of the race and got my first podium. I have to say thanks to all the Petronas Yamaha SRT, my crew, Yamaha and all the people at home supporting me. Now we rest for three days and go to Austria with a great injection of confidence and knowledge that we can be strong. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Johann Zarco – P3

“Fantastic day today, even better than yesterday’s pole position, because a podium means that the race was good. The race was really tough, I didn’t have a good start and it’s a shame because the first five laps I could go faster than Morbidelli did but I had to fight with the group and it was a little bit hard for me. Then I had some contacts but after that I could overtake Fabio and I was well in third position and then I had the penalty because of this contact and the long lap. When I got the information I want to do it immediately to don’t lose my concentration and when I saw that no one overtook me during the long lap I got like a second breathe to catch the podium and thinking ‘if I push well I can be third’ and I was focused on maybe catch Morbidelli. At the end Rins made me to be scared because he was coming strong but in the last sector I could manage well the corners to keep him behind. I’m incredibly happy for the team, thanks to Ducati for the investment they are doing and happy to offer this podium to my team.”

Alex Rins – P4

“I decided not to ride in the morning Warm-Up, except for making a practice start, in order to conserve my shoulder as much as possible. In the race I still felt pain and it was very tough, but I tried to get a good start and I remained focused on the job. Lap by lap I got into a stronger rhythm, even as the tyre life started to drop off. I was determined to get the best position possible, and with this fourth I take a lot of points. The lack of power in my body made it harder to pass my rivals, and I got very close to the podium but I couldn’t quite do the overtake. Anyway, I’m satisfied with the result and the work done.”

Valentino Rossi – P5

“It was a good race today. The second race in Jerez was better because we got a podium, but in general my performance here was better, because I had to start from the fourth row. The races have become very complicated now in MotoGP, but I felt good on the bike, and I had a good performance at this race track. I was able to be strong from the beginning to the end and also in the last part of the race I was good. It‘s a shame that yesterday we made some mistakes in qualifying because if I could have started one row to the front maybe I could have fought for the podium. But anyway, this remains a good performance and I enjoyed the race.”

Miguel Oliveira – P6

“It was a good end to the weekend. We had a decent race and I feel that we have done a good job the entire weekend. Looking at the race, our starting position cost us a better result but we need to live with that and do a better job next race in just a few days’ time.”

Fabio Quartararo – P7

“We suffered a lot in the race today from the first lap until the last, so we need to analyse this to see what we can improve to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We struggled with tyre wear on Friday, but then we improved it during FP4 so I wasn’t expecting the tyres to be as bad as they were today. I’m not really happy with seventh today but we still earned nine points towards the championship and actually we increased our lead there. Although I’m not thinking about the championship, I am just taking each race one at a time. Of course I always want to be on the podium, but it was nice to see Franco on there today – congratulations Franco! – and we will see what we can do in Austria.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P8

“I had a really good start, I was really strong after the first and second lap. I had to be really aggressive to recover positions and keep a strong pace at the beginning. But after five laps I felt the tyre drop and it was very difficult to manage until the end of the race. We did the same as in Jerez, tried not to make any mistakes and stay calm and lap by lap we closed the gap to the front and finished in P8. We were a little bit unlucky yesterday and we started from 17th which makes it a difficult race, but in the end we managed P8 so I’m pretty happy. Thanks to the team, they did a great job all weekend and sorry to the team for yesterday as I made some mistakes.”

Jack Miller – P9

“So, Brno. You guys saw the race – there’s not a lot to say after that one, because there weren’t a heap of positives. Maybe that’s a bit harsh … finishing inside the top 10 in the end was actually alright, because I spent more of the race in 12th than anywhere else. I managed to pick up three spots in the last four laps and got Aleix (Espargaro, Aprilia) for ninth on the last lap, so I salvaged something from it at least. But I’ll be honest, I’m glad that weekend is over. We have a lot to understand from this weekend, whether our struggles were track-specific and a one-off, and we need to do that quickly because we have Austria coming up in less than a week. But it was a weekend to forget.”

Aleix Espargaro – P10

“I’m pleased that I finished the race after what happened in Jerez, although I can’t be entirely happy. Unfortunately, we were not as incisive in the race as we were in qualifying. I didn’t have the pace to stay with the best. However, on one side, we stayed in the top 10 on a track where we struggle historically, and this can be the real ground zero for the start of our season. We need to work especially on acceleration and on speed in mid-turn, although on the latter aspect maybe the two crashes in Jerez had an impact, convincing me to take fewer risks. In any case, I want to see the glass as half full, so we are staying positive and focused. We know our limits and we need to give it our all to solve the problems.”

Andrea Dovizioso – P11

“It was a pretty weird weekend. Unfortunately, we have not yet identified the reason for our problems. Today the tyres have been affected a lot by the wear, and they didn’t allow us to express ourselves to our best, but still, we don’t know if were the tyres that made the big difference today in the race. On the other hand, Zarco has been the protagonist of a great weekend, and this allows us to have some data to analyze to understand the situation better.”

Danilo Petrucci – P12

“We knew it was going to be a tough Sunday, but I didn’t expect to be that slow at the beginning. Unfortunately, I suffered a lot from the lack of grip, a problem that we’ve had all weekend. I struggled so much to keep a good pace throughout the race. Today I put it all into it without being able to get a good result, so now we have to look forward. Luckily, next week we will already have a chance to redeem ourselves, as we will be racing again in Austria“.

Cal Crutchlow – P13

“It was not a good day for us. I got a terrible start and was at the back of the race completely and not able to do anything for the first few laps. I tried my best to come through and it seemed that I am able to ride my Honda a lot better alone than when I am in a group. Today, in a group I couldn’t take the correct lines. I did my best to try and salvage a result today, but I didn’t come here to finish in 13th place, I came here to try and win the race which is what we do every week. We’ll try again in the next races. I thank my team for the work they did this weekend and surely we’ll try again in Austria next week.”

Maverick Vinales – P14

“I think this is my worst result with Yamaha. I don‘t know what happened, honestly. This morning I felt great and I was hitting good lap times, also on used tires. But in the race I couldn‘t keep the pace, not even for one lap. I just lost a lot of grip since the beginning, and little by little it got worse and worse. It was very difficult to ride the bike. The only thing that I could do was try to finish and try to take some points. If I had risked more I might have scored zero, and that would have been a mistake. So we took two very valuable points today and, on the bright side, the leader of the championship also didn‘t do great today, so this lessens the damage. We have to check the data and try to be fast again in Austria.”

Alex Marquez – P15

“It was a tough day; I was expecting a lot more from this weekend to be honest. Sometimes when you expect a little too much, you can find yourself here. But anyway, we’ve learned some new things as this was the first race with a lot of change in the tyre. I lost a lot of time overtaking Bradl and Smith, I really lost the race here. After this the pace wasn’t so bad and I have learned a lot about managing the tyre. Not the weekend we expected, but we learned more.”

Tito Rabat – P16

“After yesterday’s qualifying we had a good starting position, but in the first corner I stayed inside and lost a lot of positions. It has been a difficult day because it was difficult to find the pace, but despite this I was able to recover some positions. I want to congratulate Johann and the whole team. Thank you all for your support and see you in Austria.”

Bradley Smith – P17

“The start and the early stages of the race were good and it was definitely nice to see Aleix so far out front. Unfortunately, my pace got worse after a few laps. Similar to what happened in Jerez, I started battling with rear grip early on. In any case, finishing the race lets us gather more important data to help our project grow. It seems like we’ll have some new features to test from the next race, and that is very important.”

Stefan Bradl – P18

“It was a pretty tough day honestly. Jumping into a race weekend was always going to be tricky, so we made the most of what we could. In the race I didn’t really feel comfortable on the bike, but I was able to make a good start. On lap seven or eight I unfortunately made a mistake on the brakes into Turn 1 and I ran off. Then it was a race on my own and I did what I could. I’m looking forward to moving on to the next weekend. We have a whole weekend of data to understand the bike more, so let’s see what’s possible.”

Pol Espargaro – DNF

“It’s unfair but it is racing, and we have to deal with these things. I was behind Brad and watching the others and playing with the maps to be strong at the end. I felt I could make ‘58s in the last laps, so I was trying to be relaxed when the contact happened. I could not show my potential and win the first race for KTM but I’m happy for Brad because he’s a good guy and works hard. We had a real chance today and we’ll hope for another one very soon.”

Joan Mir – DNF

“The only thing that I didn’t want to happen in the race happened. My start was OK but I lost ground in the first laps when fighting with Petrucci. I was settling into a rhythm and keeping calm because I knew I had good pace, so I was preparing to work my way through the pack. Lecuona crashed in front of me, and there was no way I could avoid going down too. He ruined the race for me but I don’t blame him because these things can happen. I have good memories from Austria in the smaller classes, although it will be my first time there on the MotoGP bike; I can’t wait to get back on track.”

Iker Lecuona – DNF

“On Sunday I felt prepared. I passed some riders but when I tried to overtake Joan Mir in corner 13, I knew that there were some bumps. He was quite slow on the straight, I was left of him, in a good position, but he just closed the line. So, I tried to release the brake a bit and to save the situation but finally I touched him and we crashed. Maybe I should have waited longer but this seemed to be a good opportunity. So, I want to say sorry to my team and also sorry to Joan. Anyway, we improved a lot this weekend and we learned a lot, so we will see what will happen in Austria.”

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Team Managers

Mike Leitner – Red Bull KTM Race Manager

“It was amazing today. All weekend we felt quite competitive on this track with good lap-times among the riders and we expected something from the race. Brad had the race pace and Pol was at the same point, and even though we could not be happier we could have had even more from this GP! Miguel also did great to take 6th so in general we are more than happy. We started this project in 2017 and many people have been involved. We built a complete infrastructure in KTM. People in the company had the right mentality because we had to push: we did not have the road racing history of other manufacturers we are competing against. When I look back at these three years there have been ups-and-downs but the pay-off has been unbelievable today. We’ve saw in Jerez – and again here – that we are much closer to the front. On this long, technical track at Brno, and with our different technical philosophy with a steel chassis and WP Suspension, we got the job done and it’s a great payback to every person who has been connected to the project. I’m very happy to give back something to the KTM board for the great investment they made, their 100% belief and our main sponsor who also had full belief in us. Now, we will go to our home Grand Prix now and will work hard from FP1.”

Pit Beirer – KTM Motorsports Director

“For KTM this is an unbelievable day. It’s historic for our company and for the whole team but of course for Brad Binder; who has believed in us and our project for many years. Today is payback for so much hard work. We knew we had a better bike for this year and this did not happen by accident: it came from everything we learned during the last years. With Dani Pedrosa, Mika Kallio and the test team we worked and developed for over a full year to have this bike now. At the end of the day you need a fantastic rider to put the bike on the top step and Brad did it today, and in the same style as he won in Moto3 and Moto2 races for us. It´s an incredible feeling and we will now build on this result. On the other hand, I want to thank Pol Espargaro because also he – together with his crew – brought every piece of the puzzle together to bring this project to the top. Today is the result of a fantastic team effort: at home in Munderfing and Mattighofen, through the test team and a great crew on track.”

Hervé Poncharal – Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team Manager

“An historical day today, KTM won his first ever MotoGP race here in Brno, Czech Republic and although this is not my team, I feel like it is. We work so closely together with KTM, I see how much everybody is pushing, how high the passion is everywhere. I have said, that I worked with a lot of other factories, but this one is very, very special and we’ve had some bad fortunes recently, all of us and what happened today is really an incredible story. Congratulations to KTM, congratulations to Brad, sorry for Pol and Iker, but the main point is that the KTM RC16 is now a bike that is capable of winning and we had the proof today. Regarding the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team, we were very happy with Iker and we were really full of hope, that he could finally finish his first race, in the points. We could see that today was a good day to finish the race with the KTM having a few points in your bag, but unfortunately again the youth spoke and he was too aggressive too early. We’re sorry about what happened to Joan Mir, it was not necessary. I’ve been happy with Iker until Sunday midday, but this afternoon was again what we don’t want to see. Hopefully we see the end of this tunnel by next round on KTM home ground in Spielberg. What I want to talk most about, is Miguel’s performance. He unfortunately couldn’t make the grid position, we were expecting, his start was not ideal and he had to fight with a lot of riders to progress through the field. Every time he was on his own, we could see that the lap time was very similar, not to say identical to the leaders, but the handicap was there and there was never a way to close this gap. Anyway, he was as usual a fast, steady Miguel, who passed a lot of riders in front of him to end up sixth, which is his best ever race finish, passing quite big names, even the championship leader. So, we clearly saw, that Miguel and the KTM RC16 are in a position to maybe achieve what Brad Binder has been doing today. KTM has got a strong bike, KTM has got four strong riders and hopefully we can continue to write this beautiful story next week in Spielberg, Austria.”

Razlan Razali – Petronas SRT Team Principal

“It was a very unpredictable race and we are extremely happy with Franco’s second place finish. We send our congratulations to Brad Binder and KTM as they did an amazing job. It’s a great day for Franco and we’re also fairly happy with Fabio’s result as well. Of course we need to evaluate what happened but overall we are very happy. The Moto3 race was also an unusual one and we were hoping for a slightly better result from John. However, it was a commendable effort from him and he rode a smart race to maintain his position in the championship. I’m pleased with KIP for finishing the race, given the injury that he sustained during qualifying yesterday. Unfortunately in Moto2 we had a technical problem with Jake’s bike, which ended his race early. With Xavi we really need to look at how we can improve because we expect more from him. We’ll have to wait and see how we go in Austria.”

Ken Kawauchi – Suzuki Technical Manager

“Today was half good and half bad really. Alex did an unbelievable race, especially considering the pain in his shoulder. He did a very good job, just missing out on the podium but getting a great fourth. It was such a pity for Joan because we were confident he could get a good result and some nice points, but sometimes these things happen. We’re already focusing on the next race and continuing to fight with both riders.”

Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager

“We thought that Alex had done a great job yesterday in practice and qualifying, but he surprised us even more today! We know how much he’s suffering and to finish the race like this – so close to the podium and keeping a strong pace to the end – was so impressive. So thank you very much to Alex and all the team for their work. Unfortunately, I think Joan was capable of a good result too, but there was a racing incident which wasn’t his fault and it really comprised his race. It was a pity but we know he is strong and can come back well. Looking forward to Austria next weekend!”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“We knew this would be a tough race and that the tyres would play a vital role. Valentino did a good job today. Starting from 10th on the grid in the midst of the busy pack is always a challenge. He did well to recover quickly and steadily move up the order, all the while making sure he had enough tyre left at the end of the race to defend his fifth position. Our only regret is that if he had started at least one row ahead, he would have surely fought for the podium. The GP weekend ended in a disappointment for Maverick. The choice to start with the rear tyre scrubbed, as we had done in Jerez, really did not pay off. I am not saying that was the only reason for his difficulties, because he struggled from the very beginning of the race, therefore we’ll have to analyse the data and find the reason why Maverick struggled so much. This race is done and dusted, and now we head to Spielberg, where we hope to do two good races.”

Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager

“This has been one of the most difficult weekends since Michelin returned to MotoGP. The traction afforded by the asphalt was very low, as the surface is so old and there are a lot of bumps to unsettle the riders. The one plus was that our front tyre construction is built to absorb the bumps as much as possible, so the riders still had the confidence to push the front. The new rear construction we introduced this year was tested here in 2019 and the results were very good, but the track has deteriorated so much since then and with the combination of the high temperatures it has not helped the tyre to perform at its highest capacity. The technicians worked incredibly hard this weekend to find the best solutions for all the riders and manufacturers, it is during weekends like this that we see the experience within our team and how we pull together as a group to make sure the best performance from the tyres can be provided to all. We knew that because of the amount of spin that the tyres were being subjected to – because of the lack of traction – that there would be a drop as the race wore on, but we were able to advise the riders in the best way to manage this and this helped them and their teams make some race strategy decisions. It has been a tough weekend, but one we can learn from and move forward. Finally, I would like to pass on congratulations to Brad Binder and KTM, both first time winners in MotoGP and for Michelin!”

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Source: MCNews.com.au