[954Stealth]

Bradley Smith Championship: 7th Points: 36

Bradley Smith - 2015"Next up for us is the awesome Le Mans race which is certainly one I look forward to, especially as it's the team's home race, plus Monster Energy sponsors this event. The track itself is quite narrow and features some tight first gear corners plus the stadium section at the end of the lap can be tricky, so we must ensure we get everything set up and ready as soon as possible for the race. The Jerez weekend was a bit of a challenging one, however I still managed to battle through to 8th and we then found the solution to our issue in the test on Monday. Therefore, I am confident of clinching a top result aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 in the 28-lap race on Sunday. Last year was quite a tough one for me at Le Mans, but I am determined to continue my strong form so far this season and as the crowd is always so ecstatic and passionate about our sport, I will do my best to give them something to cheer about!"

Pol Espargaro Championship: 9th Points: 26

Pol Espargaro - 2015"I can't wait to jump on the Yamaha and get out on the track this weekend at Le Mans! I had a good result last time in Jerez where I finished in 5th which was what the team and I needed after the tricky opening rounds that we experienced. Now I fully intend to follow this result up with another strong finish at the Tech3 team's home race. Last year, I scored my first ever MotoGP front row and finished in 4th but only 0.6 away from the podium, so I'm definitely keen to hit the ground running this weekend. Now, it's one year on and I know I can be pushing for this position, if not higher, after collecting more experience in the past twelve months. I am feeling confident for this race and although the weather can sometimes be tricky at this track, I will push hard for the team and the fans, who are always brilliant at Le Mans!"


Aleix Espargaro:

“I’m satisfied with the steps forward we have made in the last test in Jerez. We are looking for better traction which could let us better exploit the bike’s potential. The electronics have made many improvements and we also tested some chassis parts on the rear that allowed us to make better lap times. We have also worked on geometry and set-up which finally gave us better braking, which also allowed us to enter the corners quicker and exploit the strong points of our chassis, which will be crucial for Le Mans. Personally my feeling with the French track is not the best, I prefer fast corners and I struggle on tight circuits, but this is not worrying me too much as I know the handling of my GSX-RR is good and I’m confident I will find a good feeling with the bike pretty quickly.”

Maverick Viñales:

“To me going to Le Mans is a good thing, I like this circuit and I am confident I will find a good feeling pretty quickly. The circuit is tight with slow corners, which means you have to brake later and be as efficient as possible through the turns to have a good exit speed. The improvements we’ve made in the recent Jerez tests give me hope; the electronics and also the new set-up has proved to be effective both on lap-times and on improving my confidence in riding.”

Nicky Hayden:
"I am looking forward to getting to Le Mans and hopefully putting into practice some of the things we found at Jerez. The improvements we made in the test there should help us close the gap to the top. Le Mans is a tough circuit with some hard-braking zones so it will be important to find a set-up that allows us to attack those areas with confidence. We also need to work hard on the acceleration to get us out of those turns. The weather tends to be very changeable at Le Mans so let's hope it is kind to us this weekend. From what we have seen so far this season we will have to work hard from Friday to make sure that we are competitive enough to challenge for a good grid position on Saturday."

Eugene Laverty:
"We did a great job in the test after the Grand Prix at Jerez, finding a solution to our rear grip problems there. That is a positive step as we look towards the next round in France. We have shown our pace over a single lap this season but we have been lacking consistency over race distance and we feel we found that at Jerez. I rode Le Mans during my time in 250cc but that's a long time ago now and it will seem like another new track to me. That won't be a problem though and I'll be doing as much work as I can at home to be prepared. We'll be focused from Friday on doing the best possible job and building on the positive base we found at Jerez."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
"In Spain we had a great weekend, completed by positive post-race tests. We can feel satisfied with our achievements so far, with the two championship points Bautista has earned. We have shown that we are able to easily battle to be in the top 15, so now it would be nice if Melandri could bring home his first points of the season in France. After all, Le Mans represents another important milestone in our path of development, so we'll keep working to reduce the gap behind our adversaries as we have done in recent races.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“At Jerez we worked very well throughout the entire race weekend. At Le Mans we'll be taking on a track which is similar in many ways, so I think that the data we collected in Spain may be a good base to start from. In the tests on Monday I was able to try the new seamless gearbox for the first time. It's a shame we won't have it already for Le Mans because it is already at a great level, but I'm confident that even with the current version of our bike we'll be able to do well this weekend. I have great memories of last year's race where I took the third step of the podium. The goal this round is the same as the previous races: to keep reducing the gap behind the other riders that are ahead of us and to be as competitive as possible. The track has a lot of direction changes, so we'll be working hard to obtain an agile and easy to ride bike. For the rest we'll try to stay as focused as possible in order to be ready for any conditions since weather conditions often change quickly here at Le Mans. The second championship point earned at Jerez provides great motivation for the entire team. We're ready to work hard.”