Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera will continue to deputise for the injured Andrea Iannone at the factory Ducati squad next weekend at Phillip Island, the Bologna manufacturer have confirmed.
The Spaniard was called up to ride in place of Iannone this weekend at Motegi after the Italian was advised by his doctors to continue his recovery from a T3 vertebra fracture. It was thought that the Austrian Grand Prix winner would make his return to action in Australia, but has now ruled that out.
Barbera enjoyed a good weekend on the latest-spec Ducati up to today’s race. He made it straight through to QP2 from FP3 and guided his Desmosedici GP16 to eighth on the grid. Unfortunately, he crashed out of the top 10 on lap eight whilst fighting with Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro, Barbera at this stage of the race having to recover from a poor start due to an unfamiliar clutch hampering his launch. He remounted and got the bike across the line in 17th.
“For me it was a fantastic opportunity to ride the 2016 Desmosedici GP and race for a factory squad like the Ducati Team and so I want to thank both Ducati and Avintia Racing for giving me this opportunity,” said Barbera.
“For me it was all new: in fact, I didn’t know either the bike or the guys in the team, but after every session the situation improved a lot. Unfortunately in the race I was not able to get a good start, especially because the clutch is very different to the one I normally use, and I immediately lost two positions. I took a bit of time to pass Petrucci and then I caught Pol Espargarò, who I tried to overtake several times, until I tried with even more decision and unfortunately I crashed. I feel bad about it because I think that today I could have finished in fifth or sixth place.
“In any case I picked the bike up to finish the race, but in the crash the two wings had broken off and I was no longer able to ride it well. However it was a great experience and I am very happy that I have been given another chance next week at Phillip Island.”
This means Barbera’s replacement at the Avintia team this weekend, former Australian Superbike Champion Mike Jones, will get to contest his home Grand Prix next weekend. Jones, incidentally, completed his first race in the MotoGP World Championship a respectable 18th.
Barbera being called upon to continue at the factory Ducati squad in Australian puts to bed all rumours that the Italian manufacturer’s test rider Casey Stoner will make a one-off Grand Prix return at his home race.
Comments.
Loading comments…