Barcelona, 10 June: Under sunny skies the Catalunya Grand Prix was run at a very hot pace today with Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa finishing 17th after a long and difficult race. Despite a series of detailed debrief meetings over the weekend Checa never found a comfortable race set-up with his RC212V and was very disappointed not to perform up to his own high expectations.

Checa qualified fifteenth for his home race and despite many changes to try and improve the balance and handling of his bike, the Spaniard never felt confident during the 25 lap race, won by Casey Stoner.


CHECA: 17th - Championship: 14th/20 points


CHECA: “This is a difficult moment for me, I cannot remember when I had a worse feeling in a race and this is not the result I wanted. Everyone in the LCR team has worked very hard over the weekend but we could just not find the balance or feeling that gave me any confidence to push. It is not fun to race like this but now we must look forward and hope the situation can improve.”


Irish rider Eugene Laverty finished 19th in the 250cc Grand Prix after a brilliant start and then being slowed by engine and handling problems that cost him an opportunity of a points scoring position today.


LAVERTY: “I made up five positions on the first lap and was hoping to stay in the group with Jules Cluzel who finished 13th. But on hot days we seem to have a chassis problem that affects rear grip and my rear tyre was spinning up a lot, it felt like the track was wet. And the engine was cutting out just after the start, so the could have been much better for me.”