Second And Sixth Row For Gresini Racing Team Moto3 Racers At Barcelona
Gresini Racing Team Moto3 racers Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio will start from the second and the sixth row of the grid in tomorrow’s Catalan Grand Prix at the circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, respectively.
In this afternoon’s Qualifying, on a track with a modified layout for safety reasons following the tragic accident of Luis Salom during yesterday’s Moto2 FP2, aboard his Honda NSF250RW machine Bastianini set a lap time of 1’54”167, fifth fastest and just 0.143 seconds off pole man Brad Binder. A good performance for the 18-year-old rider from Rimini, who would have been able to fight for the pole position if he had not found a bit of traffic on his best lap.
Also Enea’s team mate, rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio, enjoyed a positive qualifying session, closed with the 13th fastest time, 1’54”799. The 17-year-old rider from Rome, however, will start the race from the 18th position tomorrow, on the sixth row, following the penalization of five positions for having slowed during yesterday morning’s first free practice session.
ENEA BASTIANINI (5th – 1’54”167)
“It was a good Qualifying! We have been fast during the whole session, which is important because it means that we are moving forward. I’m feeling more comfortable on the bike compared to yesterday and this morning: now I have more rear grip and this allowed me to close the session very close to the pole position. Too bad only for the traffic on my best lap: I lost a bit of time on corners 7, 8 and 9 because of a slower rider, otherwise today I could try to get the pole position. Let’s wait for tomorrow, which is the most important day, though. Tomorrow it will be important to try to make a long run in the Warm Up, because on this track it seems that there is a drop in the grip level after just a few laps. The new layout has some pretty sharp corners and consequently forced us to change a bit the bike set-up, looking for a better compromise for a track that previously was more flowing”.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (13th – 1’54”799)
“We have been improving significantly at every session and I’m very happy for that! We are making just some minor adjustments on the bike, because it already allows me to push hard and as a consequence we put in a strong performance in Qualifying. Too bad only for not having made the most of the last two laps; I could have done more, but we know that in the Moto3 Qualifying there is always a lot of traffic. I really enjoy the modified track and we are very confident for the race, even more than I was before Mugello! We start a little back because of the penalization of five positions, but we can recover and reach the top ten, which is our goal!”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“Bastianini closed a positive Qualifying session with a very good lap time, although actually in the end he was a little bit disappointed because he was convinced that he could get more today. However, the important thing is to be in the first two rows: Enea is feeling good on the bike, so now we just need to stay focused to try to keep a good pace and to stay in the leading group, in order to fight for the top positions. We can do it! Di Giannantonio was not bad at all considering that this is his first experience on this track, which is definitely not easy. Obviously the penalization of five positions on the grid won’t help him tomorrow, but Fabio is confident he can recover”.
