Toni Bou in Japan, like at home. Fujinami celebrates 300 trials with a podium place.

I’m really happy with this Japanese GP. It rained last night so they changed some of the sections around which made things a bit easier. Besides, I feel better physically; I realised that I usually improve on the second day, so I will have to bear that in mind, because I feel the pain less in the shoulder. Today’s victory has been an important one and judging by the way that things have gone over the last month, I’m over the moon to be five points clear at the top of the leaderboard.

I’m really pleased to be able to celebrate my 300th world championship GP with a third place finish. It is fantastic. Today’s third spot was totally different from yesterday, because I was battling all the way with Adam for second place. I felt really strong. Yesterday, I couldn’t get my head around it, but today ‘Fujigas’ was back. I’m happy about the way I did things. I’d also like to mention that I wouldn’t have been able to make it all this way alone without the spectators, the fans, the sponsors, the team and Honda. This success is important for me and I wish to thank each one of you.

Yesterday, I went to bed thinking that everything would go much better but I come away from here with completely the opposite sensation. Today I started really well but then I made two faults in two sections…. I didn’t have a very good day. I have to train harder and make fewer mistakes. Maybe it was because the sections had become easier and didn’t allow any margin of error. For next time… more of the same, but better.

The overall balance of the Japanese GP is a very positive one. Toni had a great race today; yesterday he suffered a lot more. It will be a difficult year but for now the good results are coming in. To be ahead after Japan is a reason to be happy. Fujinami got a great couple of results at home; the two podiums are a great satisfaction. Today, we even thought that it would be possible to finish in second place but Adam is Adam and he wouldn’t allow it. Jaime Busto made a few mistakes today that he ended up paying dearly for. It is just a question of experience. Once again, I would like thank all the team and especially the physio who has been taking care of Toni, who also did a great job. Now it’s time to set our sight on the next goal and we have the Spanish Championship ahead, where we will decide how we go about things. Toni will have some tests in Barcelona and then we will see.