Nicolo Bulega (P1, P1) – “If I had been told a few days ago that I would win three races here in Cremona I wouldn’t have believed it! Winning at this track, my worst track, is something I couldn’t imagine. I want to say thank you to all the Italian fans who came to support us. It’s really special to win here in Italy, in front of so many Italians. This has been my most difficult circuit, and I still can’t believe I managed a hat-trick here. At the start of the season I was thinking that ‘I don’t want to go to Cremona, and now… I’ve taken three wins here. Toprak is always very strong, especially at Most, so I don’t have a specific plan going into that round other than to give 100% and try to beat him. And if I can’t beat him, I’ll try to stay as close as possible.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu (P2, P2) – “This weekend was a hard weekend, we’ve tried to improve the bike, from session to session, especially because I couldn’t race here last year. We did a very good job, because everbody was working so hard and every session we were able to improve the bike. Unfortunately not enough to win a race but P2 is better than nothing, especially after Assen. We also took very good points for the championship, so we are all in all happy. And we for sure will never give up. I like the race at Most and I’m usually very good there, so I will try to do my best again and will try to fight for the wins.”
Alvaro Bautista (P3, P3) – “It’s nice to be back on the podium, especially after how the weekend started on Friday. I’m happy because I’ve improved my feeling with the bike, and my pace today was better than yesterday’s. We made progress on Saturday and today we took another step forward. It wasn’t enough to fight with Toprak and Nicolo, but at least we’re closing the gap, and I’m happy about that. It’s always a pleasure to race here in Italy with all these fans.”
Danilo Petrucci (P6, P4) – “This morning, in the Superpole Race, I was able to recover several positions that allowed me to start well in Race 2. The top three had a different pace, but we are very happy with fourth place and the title of best independent. I have not yet been able to fully exploit the potential of the new rear tyre, which sometimes puts me in difficulty, but I have to learn to manage it. However, we had a faster pace than last year.”
Sam Lowes (P4, P5) – “It feels great for myself and the whole team to come away from today with a double top five considering some of the issues we’ve had to deal with this weekend. I wasn’t sure this morning that I was even going to be able to race today, so to come away with a fourth and fifth feels absolutely mega. It hasn’t been easy with me not feeling well yesterday and today but I felt I showed good pace in both the Superpole race and Race 2 and that’s all because of the great job the team did in giving me a very strong package. I really enjoyed riding today and it is another solid weekend for us where we finished all the races and had good pace even feeling like I did. It’s something for us to build on moving forward and I’m sure we can be in the mix again in Most.”
Xavi Vierge (P5, P7) – “Let’s say I’m happy overall with the weekend. I think we did a good job. This year, it seems like we’ve often managed to perform well on Saturdays, and less so on Sundays, but this time we were strong on Sunday too. So in the end, we wrapped up a solid weekend, working very well as a team. Even if it was just small details, we kept making adjustments to the bike throughout the weekend and always in the right direction, so I have to thank my team for that. The Superpole Race was good – I made a strong start and was able to fight inside the top five again. And Race 2 was also very positive, as I made another good start and was able to stick with the front group. I tried to push with them and break away from the pack behind, and I managed to do that. Unfortunately, I worked the tyres hard over the last seven or eight laps, and at the end I didn’t have anything left. I tried to fight for the top five, but it just wasn’t possible. Still, I think it was a solid weekend. We scored a lot of points for the championship and we’re on a good path.”
Iker Lecuona (DNF, P6) – “Finally, I’m happy, really happy, with at least one of my races here in Cremona. This morning, in the warm-up, the track conditions had changed a lot and I didn’t feel very comfortable on the bike, nor in the Superpole Race. I had a big moment on the first lap when van der Mark hit me really hard, and I lost several positions. I dropped from P6 or P7 down to P13. I managed to work by way back to tenth, but then I crashed because I was simply overriding. After that, it became difficult for me as I lost a bit of focus and got frustrated. But I’m also proud because I was able to reset and go into Race 2 with a clear mind. The team really helped me, not only by supporting me in every moment, but also by quickly repairing all the bikes I destroyed! My start in Race 2 was horrible. I found myself in P13 in the first sector. But I told myself: ‘No way.’ I took my time, properly warmed up the rear tyre, and then started to push. My pace actually surprised me. Even over the last four laps, I was still lapping in the 29.7-29.8 range and overtaking a lot of riders. I really enjoyed it. I reached P5 on the penultimate lap. It’s true that Sam overtook me on the last lap, but that’s okay. It was a good battle. He even came up to me after the race and we joked about that move. When he passed me, he expected me to try something through Turn 13, so he just shut the door. Anyway, it was fun. I’m happy to finish P6 and with such strong pace. Now let’s focus on the next one. I can’t promise I won’t make mistakes — no rider can — but I can promise I’ll keep trying to have more races like today, enjoying myself and giving something to the fans too.”
Andrea Locatelli (P7, P8) – “It was a really difficult weekend for us, unfortunately we did not take any good results here in Cremona. We were fighting to start from further back on the grid – but it does not matter about this because also when I made a great start in Race 2 it was difficult to stay there. We need to look at what happened and how to improve because I was fighting a lot with a big, big vibration this morning and all Sunday. Now, I am looking forward and don’t think too much about the missed opportunity – it was a big shame to not be faster, after the good events like Portimao and Assen, I was expecting that also here we could be fast. Sometimes in the racing life this happens! Keep pushing and we try to arrive in Most ready to fight again to go on the podium, this is the target.”
Michael van der Mark (P9, P9) – “We had a consistent weekend. We improved quite a lot but on this track it is so hard to overtake as everyone is doing the same pace. Our pace in every race has been good but track position is very important – and we were a bit unlucky in terms of position in every race actually. We scored some good points but for sure we want to fight for at least top-five. So we have to improve the package. But Most is a different track and i am sure we will do better there.”
Remy Gardner (P10, P10) – “Not the Sunday we were hoping for, but there are still positives to take. I had a great start in the Superpole Race but got tangled with another rider and lost a few places. My pace was decent, just not enough to crack the top nine, so I had to start Race 2 from tenth. It wasn’t ideal starting from there, but I still managed to maintain strong, consistent speed. We’ll keep pushing to improve and hopefully carry this momentum into the next round in Most — a track where I’ve been strong in the past.”
Alex Lowes (P12, P11) – “It was fantastic to race the bimota KB998 Rimini for the first time in front of the Italian fans. Obviously, we would have liked to have finished a bit further up, but the final race of the weekend was pretty good. Starting from 16th place, you have to have a bit of luck in the first laps to get a good track position. But, I rode the whole race the best I could. I was feeling strong and I managed to gain four or five places. My best lap was actually the last lap. The feeling on the front was a good step compared to yesterday. I keep saying this, but it is so tight in WorldSBK now that you need a perfect weekend to qualify well, start in that position and fight for the top five. On the first weekend here with the new bike, we were on the back foot a little bit. Hopefully, in the next races we can start Friday Free Practice a bit stronger. But, we made progress all weekend here and that is all that you can do.”
Andrea Iannone (P8, P14) – “Unfortunately today it didn’t go as we hoped; in SP Race I had a good pace and I was trying to close on Alvaro, maybe I could have reached him, but I was penalized for a millimetric Jump Start, thus having to lose a lot of time. In race 2, however, I struggled a lot with the front, in the left turns it always tended to close and we didn’t find a solution that could help us. I tried to defend myself, but I couldn’t keep my pace, thus also suffering the attacks. In the final I lost a bit of time in the battle and I tried to bring home the race in the points zone anyway. I’m sorry to end the Cremona weekend like this, but now we have to focus on the next Round in Most, where last year I got a podium”
Garrett Gerloff (P15, P12) – “It was a really good final day at Cremona in the end. We are still far back from where we would like to be, but at the very least, we are racing with other guys and making passes. I am there more than in the last couple of races. We are making progress, but it is not showing 100% in the results yet – but we are making progress. I am happy today and thanks to the team for all the hard work. I am looking forward to some time off, and then we will be back at Most soon.”
Axel Bassani (P18, P15) – “Sunday in Cremona has been a really difficult day, which can happen. Starting in warm-up this morning, I did quite a good lap, but the feeling with the bike set-up was not really good. In the Superpole race, I had big problems to stop the bike, so I started to lose a lot of positions. In the short races, when you are not OK, you are all together, so it is really easy to lose positions. In Race Two, I started to have problems with the rear and the front. I tried to control it and rode to the end, but the feeling was not really good. I think it was not a good day, which can happen in life. For sure, one day does not define who you are, but it is part of the game. See you at the next race.”
Yari Montella (P14, P16) – “I’m sorry about how things went today. We had solved some problems, we were finding consistency and a good pace and I want to thank the team for that. In Race 2 I started knowing what package I had and we were doing a good race, in a competitive group. Unfortunately in the last laps I started to suffer from pain in my forearm which penalized me and I’m really sorry. Let’s continue on this path, as we did this weekend, finding a good pace.”
Jonathan Rea (P16, P18) – “It’s been a tougher weekend than I expected, but I knew we had to start somewhere. The target of the weekend in my own mind was just to try and commit to racing, get passed fit and do my best to complete all three races with no mistakes. We completed that target, of course I wasn’t as competitive as I wanted to be, but considering I was only fully weight-bearing and walking without my air boot three weeks ago I can accept that. Coming back at Cremona, a track I didn’t race at last year and also super physical, I suffered more in my upper body than I did in my foot to be honest, because I was compensating quite a lot riding with my arms instead of my legs. Even though the bike didn’t feel perfect, the team have done everything to try to make me more comfortable and encourage me through this difficult weekend. I have no doubt better days are coming! It was always going to be a process whether I came back here or came back in Most, so today’s “weekend one” and hopefully we can get on a roll forward from this point.”
Dominique Aegerter (P13, P20) – “A tough Sunday overall. I gave it everything in the Superpole Race to break into the top nine, but although my pace wasn’t bad, we had to settle for 13th. We went into Race 2 feeling confident and I managed to stay with the group early on. Unfortunately, I crashed and lost the chance to fight further, but after rejoining, my pace was encouraging. We’ll keep working hard to improve and get back to battling at the front.”
