The rain arrived this morning on the legendary Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Delicate conditions which did not disturb Loris Baz since in the warm-up, the Frenchman already took the third best time.
The rain stopped shortly before the start of the race. The choice of tires was once again the center of attention. Loris opted for a hard tire at the front and rear. Hindered by traffic at the start of the race, the Haut-Savoyard then began to climb back up until he returned in the wake of his teammate Hector Barbera.
In the final laps, he managed to gain the upper hand and secure a 4th place when he took the checkered flag. Loris here equals his best result in a Grand Prix.
Best Ducati representative in the standings, he and his teammate offer the best result in MotoGP to the Avintia Racing team. Now, Loris is focusing on the next Grand Prix at Silverstone, the scene of his first WorldSBK victory.
“Since the German Grand Prix, I knew that if another wet race presented itself, I had to be attentive to the amount of water on the track, in particular when choosing the front tire. I tend to destroy the soft tire more quickly and lose the feeling. In the warm-up, I felt comfortable on the soft, but it stopped raining. So I really wanted to go with the hard tire at the front. I hesitated about the choice at the back, but Adrien (Morillas) recommended the tough one. It was a gamble, because it couldn't rain again.
I lost a little time at the start of the race to overtake certain opponents. This is why I was not able to follow Crutchlow and Rossi in their comeback and why I did not finish on the podium. I gradually moved up to 6th place. I then saw that the podium was not far away. Marquez was well checked and he increased his pace in the last two laps, while I overtook Iannone and Hector. I finished two seconds from the podium, that will be for next time.
It's the best way to thank the team for next season's contract. I was not present in Barcelona when Luis (Salom) tragically disappeared. I really wanted to get a good result to dedicate it to him, and today I achieved it.
I have excellent memories at Silverstone having won in WorldSBK in 2012. We are gradually regaining confidence and since Austria, we are constantly moving up the slope. »
