This French Grand Prix will have pleased Hervé Poncharal, the boss of the Tech3 team, as much as it has honored the two French drivers, Zarco and Quartararo. And perhaps the satisfaction was even deeper for the Frenchman fielding KTMs because the good scenario was not easy to detect through the two previous days spent at Le Mans. But Petrucci woke up during the warm-up to confirm in the race with a top 5 while Lecuona regained his aggressiveness and confidence, to the point of paying the scalps of Rossi and Viñales on the last lap... In summary, the RC16 in orange dresses were the best representatives of the Mattighofen brand, and that's the kind of detail that counts...
Hervé Poncharal could therefore only be happy the windy finish line at Le Mans : “ fantastic end to the weekend here at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix” rejoices the boss of Tech3. « It's been a tough week, but I have to say hard work always pays off in the end.. We were pretty sure there would be a downpour during the race, so we prepared for the flag to flag procedure. We decided for Danilo and Iker to go with the hardest rubber available, which was medium front and rear, and although it was a bit difficult in the first laps, because it was very wet and very cold, I think it paid off in the end ».
Poncharal: “finishing the first two KTMs is a great pride and a great honor”
« We were rewarded for our choice and we could see that both Danilo and Iker managed to catch up with a lot of riders and finishing the first two KTMs is a great pride and honor. This is a good message that we want to send to all KTM fans in France » specifies the tricolor who adds. “ There is also a little wink, that today we finished P5 and P9 in Moto3 and P5 and P9 in MotoGP. So, I think it's something fun and interesting and shows that both teams are working hard and getting the same type of results ».
« I want to congratulate Danilo of course for his never-give-up attitude. He knew there was a chance after leading the timesheets in this morning's warm-up. There was a chance for him to do something good. We told him on the grid to be ready for the checkered flag and to stay focused and that's what he did. I want to congratulate him, another great result here at Le Mans for Danilo ».
« Something I would also like to explain is that Iker was really good in the first part of the race, had a great flag to flag procedure, came out of the pits in a very strong position, I think inside the top 10 What we didn't see, because it wasn't on TV, was that Iker crashed on his first lap on wet tires, but he managed to recover the bike and come back from the tail of the peloton in ninth position, passing Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales on the last lap, which is a real feat. Great work, great combativeness demonstrated by Iker too ».
Hervé Poncharal finished : " thanks for the hard work of the technical team on both sides of the garage, great effort from Danilo and Iker! Let's take a weekend off and repeat this in Mugello! ". It will be at the end of May.
MotoGP France Le Mans J3: classification
Credit classification motogp.com
