Following an emotional difficult weekend in Mugello, the entire MotoGP paddock is off to Barcelona for the Catalunya Grand Prix this weekend. Both Tech3 KTM Factory Racing riders, Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona registered some steadily increasing performances on Italian soil and are eager to keep up the positive trend this weekend.
However, Petrucci secured a ninth position in his home round and seven Championship points, which made him moving up two spots in the overall standing. Likewise, Lecuona was sticking with his teammate for most of the race and eventually finished in a fine 11th, gathering more confidence aboard his KTM RC16. Both, Petrucci and Lecuona are happy to be able to continue their work without a break and be back in the saddle this Friday at 9.55 local time.
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Danilo Petrucci
Championship: 14th
Points: 23
"Montmeló is not very easy and it’s probably going to be tough again. We know, we need to work a lot and maybe we’ll get an update from KTM. But anyway, we also have to perform better with what we have. We already made some positive steps in Mugello and I hope we can continue this way this weekend."
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Iker Lecuona
Championship: 20th
Points: 13
"For Barcelona, I think the target is to try to be consistent during the weekend, to improve in every session, in each exit. The goal is to do better Qualifyings to make sure we are not so far back on the grid and making it even harder for us to do a decent race. If we can improve the Qualifying for sure the race would be better and I had the chance to fight with the top, so this is what we are aiming for now."
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Hervé Poncharal
Team Manager
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After the great improvements seen by all four factory KTMs in Mugello for sure the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing team is going to Catalunya with full confidence after the good team result we achieved in Mugello. This is a track, where I believe our bike should also be quite competitive.”
“The long straight will help us to show how strong the KTM engine is. Last year we were quite competitive there. Our main issue has been the cold temperatures, which didn’t allow us to use the tyre we felt good on, but I don’t think we will face the same this year. So, we are moving to Montmeló with high spirits.
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