What was the strategy for the Qatar race?
It was the first time ever we raced with the Michelin tires and with the new electronics, so it was difficult to know exactly how the race would be. Marc showed a good pace in FP4 and in the warm-up, so he felt he would be able to fight for the podium, while Dani had some more problems and the target was to finish in the top five. So we are pleased that both riders achieved their goals, even if we know we must work hard to improve.
Positive and negative points after the race?
The positive for sure is to see Marc on the podium and just two seconds off the win after a winter season during which we were further away than expected. The negative is that we were losing a lot on acceleration, and therefore Marc and Dani had to ride very hard to recover on braking. We have to work on this area.
The view from pit wall during the race?
It was very good to see Marc confident on the bike, capable of recovering from a start that wasn’t the best, and staying with the leaders for the entire race. On the last lap, we really hoped he would be able to finish second, but third is fine. We were also pleased to see Dani able to keep a reasonable pace in front of Maverick, who has been fast all week.
Inside story apart from official comments?
Over the four days of the GP, there was a kitten hanging around our office. Our press officer Federica gave her some food and she was our ‘mascot’ for the whole weekend!