BULEGA IN ROW 5 AS PONS IMPROVES
Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 do not shine in the #AustrianGP qualifying and despite an excellent FP3 – especially with Bulega – comes away with a 15th and a 22nd in this Saturday of motorcycle racing at Spielberg. The menacing clouds spared the riders of the middleweight class of MotoGP with Nicolò Bulega and Edgar Pons that could continue developing their Kalex machines #11 and #57.
Nicolò Bulega proved to be very quick this morning and he even climbed all the way up to the top three and then somehow out of Q2 as his lap was cancelled by Race Direction for a yellow flag situation. This decision changed Bulega’s plans dramatically as he was forced to enter Q1 and then finished 15th, a result that will at least help him fight for the top ten in the race.
Edgar Pons’s 22nd place can be seen in both positive and negative ways: if from one side this is surely not the position he wants to be in, on the other hand the Spaniard managed to solve the engine braking issues just before Q1, which leaves room for hope for the rest of the weekend.
15th – NICOLÒ BULEGA #11 (1’29.308)
“This morning we were really fast and only Race Direction managed to prevent me from getting into Q2 as they deleted my best lap-time. We did a good Q1 but obviously we wasted some tyres and energy to do so, so in the key session I couldn’t put together the right lap. 15th is surely not what we want but we will try to make amends tomorrow with the hope to find back the same near-perfect feeling we had in FP3.”
22nd – EDGAR PONS #57 (1’29.577)
“We had quite a significant issue with the engine brake that halted our progression throughout the weekend. When we found the solution before Q1 we managed to lap one second quicker than free practice and the pace also improved. Tomorrow’s race will be important even despite this qualifying because with a second opportunity next week it will be crucial to continue our learning curve with the bike.”
