Héctor Barberá went from fourteenth on the grid to seventh in a single lap at his home race, the Gran Premio de Aragón. His best start of the season had much to do with it, as he finally managed to get off the line with the speed he has been looking for. The Spaniard established a strong pace throughout the race battling with Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
A technical mistake when looking at his rival's pitboard at the end of the race confused him into a premature slowdown -unsure as to how many laps remained- and he lost a place as a result. Eighth was nonetheless an excellent result for a rider finding form in the home straight of the season.
Héctor Barberá:
"Today's race was difficult, because the temperature was a lot different to that which we experienced in practice. The bike behaved a little differently and we had to adjust to the situation. I think that my start was good and I am satisfied with that, because I hadn't done so before this season. There was a moment in which I was up to sixth place, but Hayden and I traded positions over the course of a lap and Bautista escaped. With two laps remaining, I accidentally focused on Hayden's pitboard, and saw that they had put one less lap up for him. I got confused and Hayden took the advantage to pass me; I got back ahead but ran wide just after and lost my chance to keep up with him. It was a shame not to have finished as the best Ducati, but our hard work was shown in today's race. I want to emphasize that my team did a great job today, and gave me a great setup. I am on a run of successful races, and want it to continue."
MAPFRE Aspar press release.
