Source: MotoGP.

Australia’s MotoGP representative Broc Parkes endured a difficult weekend at the Le Mans round of the world championship, as bike failures denied his chances of a strong result.

Parkes qualified 20th and ahead of PBM Motorsport teammate Michael Laverty, however a major mechanical fault during Sunday morning warmp up forced him to switch to his reserve bike.

The 28-lap race saw Parkes circulate to 18th ahead of just Mike Di Meglio after he struggled with the back-up bike and his decision to go with the harder option of Bridgestone’s rear control tyre.

“It wasn’t an easy race,” Parkes lamented. “I had quite a few dramas before the race, this weekend’s been up and down because we’ve had lots of problems with the two bikes. Unfortunately in warm up this morning my number one bike that I used all weekend had a problem with the engine.

“They didn’t have enough time to change the engine so I had to change bikes. In the race I just didn’t feel good on the bike – I had no rear grip and just struggled a lot. I opted for the harder rear, which I think was the wrong decision.

“The first half of the race wasn’t too bad, but once the grip ran out I couldn’t get on the power and had no side grip. I basically tried to keep pace, but it wasn’t a lot of fun at the end of the race.

“Mugello’s a new track for me, I haven’t been there before so we will be on the back foot to start, but hopefully we can get up to speed and have a good one,” he concluded.