The home country rider dominated both practice sessions and charged to second place in the qualification race but suffered misfortune at the hectic start of both GP motos and was twice forced to race through from the back of the pack to finish sixth and seventh. These two scores gave him fifth overall in the GP and the Frenchman is now seventh in the series point standings.
Teammate Petar Petrov was classified tenth in the Grand Prix after a weekend full of incidents. After qualifying eleventh the Bulgarian battled his way forward from thirteenth to cross the line ninth in the first moto but was penalised five places as his bike failed the post-race noise test after the silencer was damaged during the race. He finished eighth after starting twelfth in the second race. Petar is now sixth in the series points standings.
Vsevolod Brylyakov of the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki team was unfortunate to suffer a twisted ankle during the first free practice but the Russian bravely fought through the weekend and was rewarded in race two with a ninth placed finish after charging from fifteenth place on lap one. His first race soon came to an end as another rider rode into his foot; the impact was so great that the engine casings were damaged, thus causing his inevitable retirement. The Russian is now tenth in the series standings.
Dylan Ferrandis: “I’m disappointed with the results, I had two very bad starts as I was last in the first corner. I couldn’t get good starts on this ground, and then I had to fight for the entire thirty-five minutes to come back in the top eight. I had no fun riding on this track, and everything seems to go wrong at the moment as I’m still waiting for my knee braces and equipment as the airplane company lost my luggage from Spain. Now we have two weeks to recover before Matterley; let’s hope that they will do a good track preparation.”
Petar Petrov: “I don’t know how it happened but in the first moto I lost the silencer and then the bike had less power. I still finished ninth but I got a penalty of five places so I was classified fourteen. In the second moto I had a decent start and finally I felt comfortable with my shoulder and thumb and I could push to finish eighth. It’s not that good, but it’s a good way to start building up for top five results again. I learnt a lot about my shoulder and my thumb this weekend; I have now the confidence and the feeling I was missing last weekend and we have now two weeks to prepare for the UK.”
Vsevolod Brylyakov: “The GP didn’t start so well for me as on the sixth lap of practice I slipped and made a big crash; I was lucky not to have any back injury, but I twisted my ankle and I had some pain all weekend. The doctor let me ride, and it wasn’t easy to qualify but I got the fourteenth gate for the races. In the first moto I was around ninth place when another rider hit me. He rode straight into my foot and I crashed; there was a hole in my engine so I had to retire. I didn’t get a good start in the second race but I was able to finish ninth; I think that was not so bad to score a top ten riding just with one leg ! Now I will have all the treatment I need during the next two weeks to prepare the next round.”