Hard Hit Out in Mugello 😔

Hi everyone, 

I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Mugello, and this year didn't exactly change my mind about that. For whatever reason here it's never really worked out for me, I love the track and everything about this place but the results have never really been there. I came here wanting more than one point this weekend, that's for sure. 

It all started pretty well too, I was third after Friday… and then Saturday was just one of those days you get when things start bad and get worse. We started the day with the bike stopping on my first lap in FP3 so I had to use my second bike for the rest of the session, and the only option we had with how that bike was set up was to go with the pre-heated tyres that I got a terrible feeling with on Friday. I was able to improve but not enough, so I fell out of the top 10 and that left me in Q1. From there, it was all downhill. 

The weather came in for qualifying… I was fast and pushing in the conditions but I had Marc (Marquez) and Fabio (Di Giannantonio) behind me and I was like the donkey towing them around. I was fast, but they used me as a reference and were faster than me, and that was me out in Q1 and stuck way down the grid. You don't know really how hard you can push because there's rain all the time on your visor, but those guys behind you can use you as a marker to see how hard they can push. You never want to be the first one in that situation, it's definitely easier to be behind. Fabio ended up getting pole so you can't help but wonder… it's just unfortunate. We pushed the maximum and didn't get what we wanted. With it being so hard to overtake in MotoGP now, especially here… yeah, Saturday was just an unlucky day and left me on the back foot. 

I needed things to go right fast on Sunday, and it went the other way – I was 12th on the grid and finished the first lap 22nd, so that wasn't ideal. I was wide on the grass on the outside after the start, got hung out at the first corner, got beaten up by a few of the boys… wasn't great. I was able to make a few passes and a few guys came off in front of me, but all the damage was done by then. 

I made it hard work for myself and I tried to come through, but I got caught up with (Jorge) Martin and (Alex) Marquez, and just couldn't find a way by. Each lap was the same – I'd lose a lot coming into the last corner and then catch up towards the first corner, but was never able to catch up enough to make a decent attack. I sent it in a couple of times from a long way back but I was losing the front, and running a little bit wide. I could never get close enough to actually do something. So, 15th and one point – better than zero, but not a lot better. 

I'm pissed off with my day, but it is what it is. All we can do is try to improve next week in Barcelona, so hopefully it's better there. 

Cheers, Jack