Héctor Barberá with a good improvement at Motorland

Rider Héctor Barberá improves in qualifying, and will give his all in the race at the Motorland Aragón circuit. I'm sure the 8 will be up front, making his fans happy.

By Gloria18 September 2011 · 3 min read

MAPFRE Aspar rider Héctor Barberá will start fourteenth in tomorrow’s race, after qualifying 1.5 seconds off the best time. The blackout and the cancellation of yesterday’s second free practice session meant that, this morning, the riders of the premier class had fifteen extra minutes of practice.

Having partially corrected the problem from the first day, and after the second and final free practice session, the MotoGP riders took to the track for the timed session. It was a session dominated by the same riders as in the morning, Stoner and Pedrosa, but one that surprised with how tight the standings were.

Although Motorland was presumably a track where the differences between the seventeen riders of the premier class would widen, given its more than five thousand metres, quite the opposite happened. From first to last, they finished with only 2.6 seconds of difference. Another sign of the impressive overall pace is the pole time, set by Stoner, one second faster than last year’s lap record.

MAPFRE Aspar rider Hector Barberá improved by six tenths from one session to the next. Although he struggled with excessive rear-wheel slide on his bike at some points on the circuit, he qualified fourteenth, 1.525 seconds off the best time.

He is aware that there are still certain aspects of his Ducati’s chassis that need refining, but he is confident they will be sorted out tomorrow during the warm-up. Apart from the top six, the differences between most of the riders on the grid are minimal, something the Valencian rider hopes to take advantage of to stage a fine comeback in the third home race of this 2011 season.

Statements from Héctor Barberá:

The official practice did not go as well as I had hoped. Motorland is a track that suited me well last year. We have improved our times compared with last year, but today most of the riders have also improved a lot.

I suffered quite a lot with the changes of direction; the bike was spinning when I opened the throttle. It’s a shame, because I finished two tenths behind seventh, but my position is fourteenth.

The times are very close today, and the team and I will keep working this afternoon to improve the set-up for the race. I’m left with a bittersweet feeling. I don’t like seeing myself held back, but on the other hand I’m satisfied because I know I have given my maximum.

The pace was optimal, but we were missing one faster lap.