Bastianini Just 0.005 Off The Pace After Day One In Austria. Good First Session For ‘Diggia’
Gresini Racing Team Moto3 riders Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio made today the first laps at the Red Bull Ring, the fast track which is hosting this weekend the Austrian Grand Prix for the first time since 1997.
Bastianini found himself immediately at ease on a fast track with many hard braking points: the 18-year-old from Rimini set the second fastest time – 1’37”075 – at the end of the first two free practice sessions, just 0.005 seconds behind Championship leader Brad Binder, who last July had already carried out a test session on this track.
Rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio has instead closed the first day of practice with the 24th fastest time, 1’38”718: eighth fastest in the morning session, the 17-year-old from Rome improved his lap time by just four tenths in the afternoon session, which however saw a considerable reduction in lap times by the other riders. “Diggia’ will work with the team to find the good cornering speed shown in the morning, still convinced he can do well ahead of tomorrow’s Qualifying.
ENEA BASTIANINI (2nd – 1’37”075)
“I like the track very much! It combines hard braking points and fast corners where it’s important to have a good cornering speed: two aspects which are undoubtedly different, but I found myself immediately at ease. Being our first time on this track, this morning we worked a lot on the bike set-up, also because the weather conditions were not the best, with very low temperatures. Later, in the afternoon, the grip on the asphalt improved and we were also able to take steps forward with regard to the bike set-up, so we were able to be quite fast. At the moment it seems that Binder is making a difference: he’s going really fast, not just on one lap but also with regard to the pace, so he will definitely be the man to beat this weekend. We will have to try to recover about 3 tenths if we want to try to fight with him in the race. However, we are competitive and we know we can do well tomorrow: we will try to understand where we can improve, both myself and the bike”.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (24th – 1’38”718)
“The track has many ups and downs and I like it, although I would have preferred it with some more corners… This morning we started off well, then in the afternoon we made some changes to the bike set-up and we were not able to improve a lot. However we are not so far from the others as it might seem: we already know how to progress, because in the second session we have lost ground in some parts of the track where actually we have been fast in the morning. This morning the cornering speed was one of our strong points, then we lost it a little in the afternoon, so we’ll just have to work to retrieve it. If we succeed we can go faster tomorrow”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“Today Enea worked very well, despite it was at his first visit on this track. I’m happy for how he behaved since the morning session and we can say that we are in line with our expectations. Di Giannantonio has struggled a bit more, especially in the afternoon, but it must be said that Fabio didn’t use the soft tire at the rear, so we are confident that he can improve tomorrow. This track is quite special, fast and characterized by various ‘stop&go’ points, so as always we will fight and work hard, also because we didn’t expect temperatures so low”.