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ENCOURAGING START TO AUSTRIAN GP FOR TEAM DEL CONCA GRESINI

11 August 2017

Moto3 World Championship action has resumed today at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, only five days after the tenth race of the season at Brno. Contrary to the Czech GP, however, this racing weekend has started in a much more positive way for Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3.

In today’s two free practice sessions, Fabio Di Giannantonio showed great speed on board his Honda NSF250RW and a great feeling whether the track was dry (morning) or damp (afternoon). The young Italian rider ended the day with an 8^th place in the combined times and a best lap of 1’38.398, whilst working mainly on the race set-up. During FP1, he managed to do a couple of longer runs of nine laps each, with a solid and interesting pace shown around the Austrian venue.

Jorge Martin – still recovering from the ankle injury – chose to sit out the damp afternoon session, in order to rest and get some strength back ahead of qualifying and race, which he is due to take part in. With “only” 11 laps under his belt, he managed to secure a promising 14^th place.

8^th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21

“It’s been a very positive day. We started off well this morning and had a great session; despite using the same tyres the whole time, we were only eighth tenths of a second away from the best lap of the session – which was set on fresh tyres. We did a sort of long run and I have to say we have a good pace. The afternoon’s mixed conditions didn’t tell us much, but the bike seems to be working well in every situation. We only need to improve the front-end of the bike on longer turns.”

14^th – JORGE MARTIN #88

“It’s been a good Friday: we went out on track, we lapped in the FP1 and I felt good and comfortable on the bike. I need to preserve my energy for Sunday and that’s why we decided to sit out free practice 2, as it is likely to stay dry for the rest of the weekend. I almost feel no pain while on the bike, although I obviously I don’t have the full movement of the joint, but I’m happy to be able to go out and have fun again!”