Team Suzuki Press Office – June 17.
Andrea Iannone: 10th (+ 24.141)
Alex Rins: DNF
Sylvain Guintoli: DNF
• Andrea Iannone grabs Top 10 finish and good points.
• Alex Rins forced to retire for electrical problems
• Sylvain Guintoli’s race over early.
The circuit of Montmelo was hot from the very beginning of the day, with track temperatures reaching 31c in the morning Warm-Up session. Andrea Iannone once again confirmed strong pace and put in a good lap time to finish the session just 0.385 from the top. Alex Rins and Sylvain Guintoli used this morning Warm-Up to make final adjustments.
The Catalan GP had a lot of drama and an extremely high attrition from the very start. Unfortunately, Sylvain Guintoli was one of the early crashers, although the Frenchman was thankfully uninjured. Alex Rins found himself with clear track after making up some positions from grid, he had hoped to concentrate on consistent laps but a bike problem ruled him out. Andrea Iannone made a great start and was able to put his aggressive riding style to good use in the early laps. The Italian dropped back towards the end of the race but was still able to take a Top 10 finish and useful points.
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager
“Unfortunately this was the worst race of this year. This weekend Andrea had good speed, but he couldn’t show this speed in the race because the conditions were very difficult. I have to say I’m very sorry to Alex, because we had some bike problems. Now we’ll check what exactly was the problem. Our third rider, Sylvain, crashed unfortunately. Tomorrow we have a test day, and we’ll try many different things and start again in Assen.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“It’s been a difficult day. Andrea tried his best, he made a good start and pushed very hard since the beginning of the race. This probably affected the tyre wear over race distance, especially on this lower grip circuit, and so he had to slow down later. In the end he finished 10th. On the other side, Alex was really unlucky to suffer a technical problem and he had to retire from the race. It’s been tough in general this weekend for Alex because we also struggled in qualifying. It’s also a pity for Sylvain, because he was very happy to race here and I’m sorry for him that he crashed. It’s been a difficult weekend, but every weekend is a different story, so we’ll look forward to the next one and try to get back to better positions.”
Andrea Iannone
“I’m not so happy because I tried really hard but I couldn’t achieve the result I wanted. For sure we have improved the bike a lot in some areas, but in others we still have work to do, especially when accelerating and trying to control sliding. In any case, I’m happy with my performance because I tried my best when the tyres were good, and I was close to the top at the start so that was important. I hope we’ll make more improvements in the coming races.”
Alex Rins
“For sure, the race was difficult from the beginning in terms of conditions. Then on Lap 5 I started to feel something wrong with the bike, and it got worse, so I decided to come back to the box and it seems that it was an electric issue. It’s been a strange weekend for us, because on Friday and Saturday the race pace has been good, but I was missing something when trying to set a fast lap. But we’ll take the positive things, and think about the negative things and how to change and improve. At Assen I expect to come back to the top and I hope for a good weekend there.”
Sylvain Guintoli
“Obviously I’m disappointed because I really wanted to finish the race and enjoy it. I did enjoy it, but not for very long unfortunately! I lost grip on the front early on in the race and went down at Turn 7. There were a lot of crashes, so if I had stayed on and kept a consistent pace I would have scored points which would have been nice for the record. But that’s just how it is, lots of riders got caught out and unfortunately I was one of them. Now we’ll concentrate on the test tomorrow, and I’m fine physically.”
GP of Catalunya – Race Classification:
1. Jorge LORENZO Ducati Team 40’13.566
2. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team +4.479
3. Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +6.098
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL +9.805
5. Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +10.640
6. Maverick VIÑALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +10.798
7. Johann ZARCO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +13.432
8. Danilo PETRUCCI Alma Pramac Racing +15.055
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA Angel Nieto Team +22.057
10. Andrea IANNONE Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +24.141
11. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing+36.560
12. Scott REDDING Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +38.229
13. Karel ABRAHAM Angel Nieto Team +1’21.526
14. Franco MORBIDELLI EG 0,0 Marc VDS 3 Laps
Not Classified
55 Hafizh SYAHRIN Monster Yamaha Tech 3
53 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing
43 Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing
38 Bradley SMITH Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU
42 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team
10 Xavier SIMEON Reale Avintia Racing
41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
12 Thomas LUTHI EG 0,0 Marc VDS
50 Sylvain GUINTOLI Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
Not Finished 1st Lap
36 Mika KALLIO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
MotoGP World Standings 2018:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 115
2. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 88
3. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 77
4. Johann ZARCO Yamaha 73
5. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 71
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 69
7. Jorge LORENZO Ducati 66
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 66
9. Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 66
10. Jack MILLER Honda 49
11. Dani PEDROSA Honda 40
12. Alex RINS Suzuki 33
13. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 28
14. Tito RABAT Ducati 27
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati 26
16. Franco MORBIDELLI Honda 19
17. Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha 17
18. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 13
19. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 10
20. Scott REDDING Aprilia 9
21. Bradley SMITH KTM 7
22. Mika KALLIO KTM 6
23. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 4
24. Thomas LUTHI Honda
25. Xavier SIMEON Ducati
26. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki
