The Avintia Racing Team capped off a strong weekend at the Sepang International Circuit with their second double top five result of the season, after Hector Barbera led home teammate Loris Baz in today’s 19-lap Malaysian Grand Prix.
Barbera hit the ground running on Friday in the dry free practice one, ending the session a promising sixth fastest. He was third in the damp FP2 and sailed through to second part of qualifying with the fifth quickest time of FP3. Unfortunately, an electrical problem in qualifying meant he could only do two flying laps and this left him down in 12th place.
Teammate Baz, on the other hand, had a mixed time on Friday and Saturday. The French rider lacked all confidence on his Desmosedici GP14.2 in the dry sessions and languished towards the back of the field, but was mightily fast in the wet practices. He made it into QP2 for the third time this season and went on to qualify a season-best 10th.
Both hoped for rain for the race, and they got their wish as a torrential downpour lashed the Malaysian circuit not long before the race was due to get underway. For much of the race, it was Baz who was the lead Avintia rider and was blasting his way through the top 10, finding himself in sight of the top five in the latter stages.
But, the French rider’s charge had left him with an overheated rear tyre and he began to lose grip. This allowed Barbera to close in and eventually overhaul his teammate for fourth place, the Spaniard pulling out a slight advantage of just under one and a half second at the chequered flag.
Fourth is Barbera’s best result in the MotoGP World Championship, and he dedicated it to his Avintia team, highlighting their hard work and dedication as the catalyst for this result. The Spaniard was also over the moon for his teammate, Baz himself expressing the importance of his morale-boosting performance.
Barbera now heads to the final round of the season at the team’s home race in Valencia looking to finish ninth in the standings after moving one point clear of factory Ducati rider Andrea Iannone, whilst Baz will be keen to remain inside the top 20.
“I’m really happy because this fourth place is incredible and also my best result in MotoGP ever. After two difficult races in Japan and Australia I really needed this result to get a boost of confidence and energy before my home race in Valencia. There is no doubt that this result came in the right moment,” Barbera said.
“But although I’m very happy for myself, I’m also extremely happy for my teammate Loris, because he needed it even more than me. This result is fantastic for the whole team. We are showing this season that with hard work, big efforts and huge passion you can achieve important things. Avintia is the best example, because we don’t have the resources of many teams, but in passion we are world champions. We are in the top ten after 17 races, ahead of many factory bikes, and we go to Valencia determined to give our best again to close this fantastic season with the best possible result.”
“Before the race I was praying for rain, because the last three weeks have been really tough for me. After this weekend, we go back home with a big smile on our faces. If we look at the dry track time I’ve spent this year riding my bike, it is obvious that I’m far away from the pace, so I needed some confidence and you can only get that fighting and working hard every single day,” Baz explained.
“But this result is what we were looking for to get a boost of morale and work even harder. This has been a really good race and I enjoyed battling with Hector. It was also an amazing result for the team. The race was difficult because with less water on the track my rear tyre was overheating, so this top five is fantastic. Valencia is my team’s home race and feels also like a home race to me as I have a house close to the circuit, so we will try to keep the momentum and fight for the best.”
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