5 Quotes after Brno GP

First-class Crutchlow and LCR Honda secure first ever GP victory


1 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 25 47'44.290
“This win means a lot to me. I thought the feeling might be different, but after having become a Dad two weeks ago, nothing matches that. Don’t get me wrong though, I haven’t won a race for many years, maybe six or seven, so it’s been a long time and it’s something really, really special. I’m pleased to be the British rider that’s broken the run, especially after some of the stick I’ve had. I’m also so pleased for my LCR Honda Team, because I wrecked a bike during practice yesterday and they were working until midnight to get it ready for me today. So to repay them with this win is great – they never give up. Victory has been a long time coming and I was emotional on the cool-down lap. I was playing with them in the end though, I knew I had made the right tyre choice on the grid and pushed when I needed to push. I’m ecstatic.”

2 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 20 +7.298
“At the beginning I was desperate because I thought we made a mistake, but lap by lap the hard rear became better and it was a very long race, you have to stay concentrated not to make a mistake. I started from p12, so it was a great race and I‘m happy with these 20 points, also because I‘m second in the championship and I think today we did a good job and we made the right choice.”

3 93 Marc Marquez Honda 16 +9.587
“I’m happy with the end result because the most important thing is that today I extended my advantage over second in the overall standings, as I only dropped four points to Valentino [Rossi] while Jorge [Lorenzo] didn’t score points. We proved that we’re competitive both in dry and wet conditions. This year we’re working like ants, making gradual, steady improvements and having a very complete season without changing our mindset. I made a mistake with the tyres choice, but it’s easier to judge things in hindsight. Perhaps the best choice was the hard compound on both the front and rear, but I was expecting a flag-to-flag race since the track normally dries quickly, which wasn’t the case today. When I saw that there was less than 10 laps to go and the track was still wet, I started to manage my tyre wear. I saw that [Cal] Crutchlow and Rossi had a faster pace, so I concentrated on my other rivals and I can say I won the battle with them.”

4 76 Loris Baz Ducati 13 +12.558
“We rode a great race and we took the right decision with the tyre choice. As I’m heavier than the rest of the riders, I always have to use harder compounds, and before the race we decided for the hard rear wet tyre, which was perfect. You never know if you took the right decision because you never know if the rain comes back. But we recovered from the rear step by step and with some more laps, we could haven even gone further. I think we needed more experience with this tyre, the bike was a little bit hard and it was difficult to overtake the other riders. But I’m extremely happy and this is the best way to thank the team for the new contract for next year. I was also looking forward to get a good result to dedicate to Luis Salom, and finally we did it.”

5 8 Hector Barbera Ducati 11 +13.093
“I’m happy because we did a good race. After 12 laps, I had a technical problem and I had limited performance from the bike during the last ten laps. I tried to do the maximum to stay at the front, I saved the tyres, I was riding really smoothly, but I finished the race with some difficulties. Anyway, I’m happy, because every race we get closer, and sooner or later, we’ll get the result we deserve. I want to say a big thank you to the team, because they made this possible. Big congratulations to Loris, I’m really happy for him, because he’s a good rider and an even better person, and he needed this result. To be honest, the season started to turn really difficult for him. I always support him, I encourage him, but when you get inside a hole, the best way to get out is like he did, with a good result.”

Lorenzo Confused at Brno GP

Jorge Lorenzo has revealed the reasons for his nightmare Czech Grand Prix outing, as well as the problems he suffered in the pits as his crew appeared to object to his decision to switch bikes.

The Spaniard had been running 10th place and making up ground when he pitted at the end of the 14th lap in Brno, swapping to his slick tyre-shod second bike against the recommendation of his crew, who seemed baffled that Lorenzo had chosen to come in.

Lorenzo was back in the pits a lap later, with conditions still too wet for dry tyres, to change back to his first bike, albeit with a new front tyre.

The result of the double bike change was that the reigning champion finished out of the points in lowly 17th, in the process losing second place in the championship to Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, who was second.

Speaking to media after the race, Lorenzo said his crew chief Ramon Forcada couldn't see that a large piece of tread was missing from the front tyre of his first bike, hence the confusion in the pits.

"My team did not know what was going on," the Spaniard recalled. "Firstly they didn’t understand, because when I stopped the bike, the [part] where the tyre was bad was [face down] on the tarmac.

"So the front tyre looked perfect. It was only when they moved the bike they understood the tyre was missing a piece. So probably that’s why Ramon didn’t understand why I wanted to change the bike.

"I changed to slicks, but it was really wet and it was dangerous, I just wanted to change again the bike because it was not worth it to keep riding."

'Michelin can't let this happen again'

Elaborating on the problem with the front tyre, Lorenzo believed a manufacturing defect affected him as well as several others, including works Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone.

Asked if he wished he had opted for the hard option front tyre, Lorenzo said: "I just wish we didn’t have the problem. The front tyre was at the limit for this construction.

"Some riders have this problem, some others not, but with some more laps most of the same riders would have had problems.

"There are small differences [between tyres], they are not all the same. This shouldn’t happen, and this is an experience Michelin has to take [on board] so this doesn’t happen again.

"If conditions are similar next time, this can happen again at another track, and this shouldn’t happen.

"There can be degradation, especially on the sides [of the tyre], but when pieces go out of the tyre, this shouldn’t happen."

Possible podium lost

Lorenzo said he thought that, without this initial tyre problem, he could have finished at least third, or perhaps challenge teammate Valentino Rossi, who went for the same tyre choice of a soft front and hard rear.

"Very bad luck, because with this tyre we didn’t finish the race – like Dovizioso, Iannone – when I was the fastest one at this moment, along with Cal and Rossi," added the reigning champion.

"I felt I could have been even faster, to finish surely third or even second. But we didn’t finish the race."

Marquez's Mistake at Brno GP

MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez was expecting a flag-to-flag race at Brno in the Czech Grand Prix, which is why he started with the soft tyres and didn’t gamble on the longer-lasting hards.

His Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow won the race using the hard tyres front and rear, despite starting down in 10th.

However, Marquez was the first soft-rear user home in third place, and extended his points lead to 53, with Valentino Rossi now second ahead of Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who trailed home outside the points after another dismal wet-weather showing.

“Honestly, I expect it to dry up earlier,” said Marquez. “For that reason I chose soft-soft, which meant in the last laps I was struggling more. That was my mistake.

“I expected a flag-to-flag race, so I was pushing a lot in the beginning to try to change the tyres to slicks, but the track was too wet. Then, I tried to manage.

“I knew Cal had hard-hard, Valentino with the hard rear, they overtake me when I was struggling a lot. The maximum for the championship was 16 points, and I’m very happy because we extend a lot over Jorge and lose only four to Valentino.”

"I knew the hard would be faster"

When asked about his tyre choice, Marquez believed taking the softs was the safer option as he protects his points advantage.

“Honestly it’s hard,” he admitted. “Today, I [thought about] taking a risk to go with hard, but I preferred to have the movement and warming of the soft, but I knew the hard would be faster but then you can lose the front really quick.