After Andrea Iannone's package in Japan, stoner refusal to replace him and the impossibility for Michele Pirro to do so since busy testing Jorge Lorenzo's future bike in Valencia, Hector Barbera was temporarily promoted to official Ducati rider in Motegi.
This is a first for the Valencian pilot who confided in our colleagues at AS : “I'm a bit in shock, it cost me a lot to get here since we had two very good years, completely competitive. This is the best opportunity of my life. Yesterday, at the airport, I told Bocha (Agustin Escobar, his team manager at Avintia Racing) that there was this possibility and he was a little nervous. We met Gigi Dall'Igna in the airport and he told me we needed to talk, and as we left the airport to get the car he told me there was a 95% chance so I can ride this motorcycle. My heart almost stopped and in the evening I didn't sleep at all. (Laughs). So I'm going to sleep well tonight.
