Repsol rider gets second consecutive podium, following his victory at Jerez two weeks ago. Teammate Enea Bastianini finishes sixth.
A multiple-rider crash forced a red flag early in the race, with the contest reduced to 16 laps after the restart. Both Repsol riders were involved in the initial incident.
Arón Canet went from twelfth position on the starting grid to second place. Enea Bastianini rose from eleventh to sixth.
Canet moves up two places in the overall standings and is third -36 points behind the leader. Bastianini goes up to tenth.
Enea Bastianini
6th – +5.463
“The first start was fairly good, but then almost everyone crashed. On the second start I also got off the line well, although I did not feel as comfortable with the bike. When Mir went ahead, I tried to follow him and I managed to change the pace. I wasn’t able to stay with him, but I gained ground on the second group and I felt comfortable. There were some points where I was stronger, such as on the brakes, in which I managed to overtake well, but in the middle of the corners I suffered a little more. At the end a small gap was opened and I was able to close it again, but I pushed too much coming out of a corner, lost rear grip and almost crashed. I gave up a lot of ground, so I gave my all on the last lap to finish as high up as possible.”
Arón Canet
2nd – +4.252
“There was a multiple-rider crash due to a slippery spot on the asphalt, but we were able to remain calm, since I am a pretty calm rider in these circumstances and I work on it quite a lot with a sports psychologist. On the second start we tried to get into the front group, but Fenati and Martin managed to open a small gap, which Mir took advantage of to escape with them. When Jorge [Martín] and Romano [Fenati] crashed, Mir was already quite far ahead and it was difficult to reach him. I dropped back over a few laps, to eighth position, but I tried to regain ground and I set myself up well for the last lap. I was up into third and, when Binder crashed, I took second. I defended as well as possible and finally we took the podium. I didn’t want to go at the front of the group, because in this class it is possible to lose positions by doing that, but I knew what I had to do and it went well. I love this circuit; it was a really good fightback today, but we have to keep working in the same way because that’s how podiums come.”
