Gibernau grateful for fans support

Grupo Francisco Hernando rider Sete Gibernau has returned to MotoGP this year precisely because of weekends such as the one he has just experienced at the Gran Premio bwin.com de España and the veteran competitor is looking forward to more great racing this year.

The World Championship’s visit to Andalusia for the early season ‘fiesta’ is always a special occasion and Gibernau was proud to be a part of it as he participated in his first European race since 2006.

Returning to the track where he took victory in 2004 and finished in second place the following year after a famous battle with Valentino Rossi, Gibernau was unlikely to be a podium candidate this time around but he nonetheless made progress.

A 13th place finish in Qatar was a decent result considering his fitness problems, but Gibernau needed a good performance at Jerez to quickly put the disappointment of Motegi behind him, so the former World Championship runner-up was satisfied with coming home just outside the top ten in southern Spain.

“It was exciting and I’m very happy,” an upbeat Gibernau stated afterwards. “We finished the race and we improved a lot. It’s just fantastic to race at Jerez, it is something very special and the team did a great job and I enjoyed every minute of it. I think we are making progress and we are having fun. Every time we race we get a little bit better.”

Cheered on by 260,000 fans over the duration of the weekend and racing in front of 120,000 spectators on Sunday itself, Gibernau was moved by unique atmosphere, commenting, “If I could go out there to individually thank every fan that comes out to cheer us I would do so, because it’s unbelievable and I’m very, very happy. Now I just can’t wait to go back home, train harder, start to push more and go to France and look for more.”