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Jakub Smrz's debut on a brand-new Aprilia RSV4R at his home circuit of Brno was one to forget. After crashing in pre-Superpole free practice on Saturday, Smrz was hoping to redeem himself in the two races. Unfortunately, the Czech rider was hit by the bike of Max Neukirchner who had crashed in the second corner.

In race 2, after just a few laps, Smrz had to return to the pit box to replace the back tyre, which was spinning on the rim and he used the rest of the race as a test. But a few laps later, he crashed without any serious consequences.

"I'm disappointed with my debut, but I'm happy I'm racing on an Aprilia and I really believe in this new project," said Smrz. "However, we still have to work on improving my feeling with the front end, where most of the issues were this weekend, but I'm sure things will change for the best at Silverstone".

"Smrz's crash in practice kind of ruined it for us, we had to start way back, which was pretty dangerous," added team manager Marco Borciani. "It was not Kuba's fault for what happened in race 1, hopefully we'll be more lucky next round".