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The Saturday experienced in Misano by Jonathan Rea was without a shadow of a doubt another day to forget as soon as possible. Seventeenth in the practice session that opened the morning, the Yamaha rider was unable to go any better than 15th in Superpole, only to end Race 1 with a tumble in the gravel, without having covered a single lap.
"It's really frustrating, because my race was over before it even started," acknowledged the Northern Irishman, conditioned by having to start from the fifth row: "In Turn 1 I was in the middle of the chaos, then I managed to get close to Aegerter in the fast section, I slightly widened my line in Turn 12 to get some space, went over the curb and from that point I don't remember what happened, it's all a bit of a blur because it was a very fast crash. So much so that when I stopped I felt like I was going to keep tumbling forever."
It was another tough time for Rea, who hopes to make up for it in the two Sunday races.
"I'm very grateful to Alpinestars and Arai for the equipment that protected me today, allowing me to be almost unharmed and get away with just a few bumps and bruises," he stressed, "I should be okay tomorrow and the goal is to get a good feeling, get a good start and start to find some confidence."
Locatelli: "It's clear what the Yamaha is missing."
With his teammate out of the picture immediately after the start, it was Andrea Locatelli who held high the honor of the Pata Prometeon Yamaha team, bringing the #55 R1 to the foot of the podium after grabbing sixth place in qualifying.
"I didn't get a bad start, if I'm not mistaken I was fifth, then I lost a few meters when Bulega passed me because I went wide in Turn 11. I lost contact with the group in front, but I would say we did very well being here in Misano. We worked well in testing and free practice, although we didn't show our potential because we didn't use many new tyres. Then I made a good lap in qualifying and started sixth. In general I am happy because the gap with the first guys is quite wide, we got to ten seconds from Toprak, but it is not so high to be here in Misano - said the Bergamo rider - Our rivals are always very strong. Here in Misano we struggled a little bit more, but there were races where we were a little bit closer and I think if we can improve a little bit tomorrow we can try to be there with them."
What does the R1 lack compared to the Ducati and BMW? For Andrea, the answer is quite obvious.
"Honestly we are not that far away, especially in the first sector where they are not going much better than us. We're close enough and we know what we're missing, it's clear, so I don't want to repeat it every time," he said, "In any case, we know we've done the best we can and I think we can improve on our strengths and try to be even closer and maybe try to fight for the podium."
Photo credit: Dani Guazzetti
