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Q&A with Loris Baz

Thursday, 4 July 2013 12:39 GMT
Q&A with Loris Baz
Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) had a solid first half of his maiden full WSBK season, as the Frenchman was able to score points in almost every race so far, as well as getting onto the podium once in Assen (Race 2, third place). The 20 years old from France, by far the youngest rider in the series, is now targeting the top-5 for the rest of the year, starting from the next round scheduled for July 21 at Moscow Raceway.


What's your physical condition like now, after the big crash you had in Tissot-Superpole and the two difficult races you had to face?


Considering the crash I'd say I'm OK! Just had a broken nail, two sprains - one on the foot and one on a finger - and a lot of bruises and contusions everywhere. The two races were really difficult as I was really in pain with my finger, my foot and my back, but I tried my best to forgot the pain, especially in Race 2! I also want to thank the guys at Clinica Mobile as they had a lot of work to do because of me last weekend."


Is it good for you now to have some time to rest?


"It is definitely good, I'm not going to do a lot of training this weekend so I will let the body rest, and then next week I will start training hard again to be ready for the Moscow round."


How would you rate your first half of 2013?


"Honestly I'm happy, we scored points nearly every race (just one DNF when Chaz took me out in Race 2 at Phillip Island) and that was one of the goals set by Kawasaki. We also had one podium finish and we are able to fight in the top-5 nearly every round. Now we just have to do a little step to be fighting for the podium more consistently, I think we were in the position to do it at Imola but good luck was not on our side. We'll try again in Moscow."


How's the bike treating you? What's your goal for the second part of the season?


"I'm really happy, I love the ZX-10R I feel really good on it now, all the team worked really hard to make me feel comfortable riding it. At the beginning we were struggling with the front feeling but now it's our best point, I think. Now we have to improve the general feeling to make a further step forward, we're just a few tenths behind and think during the last test between Portimao and Imola we found some good improvement. Now we just have to put everything together during the race weekend. I will do my very best to be fighting more often for the podium and try to finish 5th in the points at the end of the season."