Tricky Spanish Grand Prix for WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team

"I didn't expect a good race, to be honest. I didn't have strong front grip and I saw all the other riders around me struggling with that. It was very strange that nobody at all from the first lap straight braking in the middle of the corner and it was very difficult. It happened already in the past in Jerez, sometimes it is like this in the race. It's very strange, but when you see the lap times from the front group you are a bit surprised because without the grip, this was impossible. It's pretty bad, I expected to be able to push, but I couldn't from the first lap. So, I just tried to survive and finish the race somehow."

"I’m super disappointed that I crashed. Honestly, I'm still more happy with this race than Portimao. I'd rather crash out of fighting amongst the other guys than riding around last. At least in this race in the first laps, I was able to fight with the other guys and I felt like I was faster. I managed to make a nice pass on Marini at turn nine and was just behind Morbidelli and I think I got a little bit too excited. Going into turn two, I didn't do anything too crazy, I had a little movement in the rear and the front closed. I wish I could have hung around a couple more laps and follow Morbidelli, but it is what it is. The grip was quite low today even in Warm Up, I felt I was doing a good job to getting the power down, I passed quite a lot of guys in the first laps already and I was feeling really strong. Overall, I feel like I know exactly what I need to work on. I'm really excited for tomorrow to try all sort of things and focus on these points and try to improve in that direction."

"It was another difficult weekend for both our riders. Unfortunately, we did not score any points this weekend. It was a hard weekend to start with, with both riders struggling to find their rhythm with both their Yamaha YZR-M1. However, during the race we were happy that Darryn was fighting and managed to position himself as high as 17th before he crashed just behind Franky (Morbidelli) and did his fasted laps of high 38s. In a way, we are happy of what he has done although we obviously would like him to finish but he has learnt and understands the M1 better, which he will follow through to the test tomorrow.

“With Andrea, he did not have a good start. He was practically in the last positions but made a comeback to as high as 17th. Again, he's still not comfortable with his riding style on the M1. But he has the opportunity to relook at his style during the test tomorrow." 

"Jerez, round six has finally been a very hot race. I think Darryn did a good job, after the start he was able to catch up with a lot of boys and getting to speed. He missed a little bit of rhythm in the practices but he was able to find it in the race, especially on the throttle and the behavior of how he should be riding the bike, he got that message in the race. But of course, he was a bit too enthusiastic as soon as he passed Marini. But anyway, this is a learning curve as we know.

“For Andrea, he struggled big time with the grip of the front tyre. We don't know really if the others were having less or more issues, but for him it was a restriction. He lost the front a couple of times, he nearly crashed and he couldn't find the rhythm that he need to do to get into the points. Tomorrow is the test and we will see if we can improve the package, both boys still need to find the right rhythm to ride the bike the best possible way.”