In a Sprint Race interrupted by a red flag on the first lap, Iker Lecuona finished eighteenth and Joan Mir crashed with four laps to go.
Jerez hosted its first ever Sprint Race this Saturday, with high temperatures and the stands full of fans.
Iker Lecuona rode his first Sprint Race as a Repsol Honda team rider and fulfilled his main objective of the weekend. The Repsol Honda Team rider completed all 12-laps, maintaining a steady pace and finishing eighteenth.
Joan Mir, who started the race from eighteenth on the grid, got off the line well and gained several positions. On lap eight, the Repsol Honda Team rider suffered a small crash that forced him to retire from the contest.
On Sunday, Mir and Lecuona will participate in the Spanish GP, which gets underway at 3pm local time.
JOAN MIR – DNF
“Today’s crash was similar to yesterday, I was braking and lost the front in the last part of the corner. We are struggling this weekend, trying to find some advantage in braking. It’s really easy to make a mistake, especially with the high track temperatures, and it was my mistake today. I am uninjured and we get to try again tomorrow, this is the important point. We have to keep our focus and look to the test on Monday where we will have a lot of time to understand our situation deeply.”
IKER LECUONA – 18ºth
“My first MotoGP Sprint race was overall very good, the red flag and doing two starts made things a little strange but I was able to learn a lot in the race. It was really physical, especially in this heat, but I managed it and racing with the other riders again taught me a lot. For tomorrow I think we can put what we learned into practice and close the distance to the other riders a bit more. I am satisfied with how the weekend is going, I am learning a lot and I am really enjoying riding the Honda and being back in MotoGP.”
