CHALLENGING FRIDAY AT AUSTIN
Team Moto2 QJMOTOR GRESINI RACING endured a difficult opening day of action at Austin, with both riders currently outside the direct Q2 group. A crash during Practice1 ruined Manuel Gonzalez’s Friday, who with a lap-time of 2’09.286 seconds set on his second lap, finds himself in fifteenth place, only two tenths away from Q2 access.
Tough luck also for Albert Arenas, who after working on his race pace during free practice, he then focused on the time attack during the afternoon session. He also had a crash – at turn seven. The two standard bearers of QJMOTOR GRESINI will have another chance tomorrow to claim a direct spot in qualifying two and try to aim at the front rows, a crucial aspect here at the Circuit of The Americas.
15th – MANUEL GONZALEZ #18 (2’09.286)
“It was a difficult first day: we kept the same tyre throughout the first session but the feeling wasn’t too good, so the result wasn’t among the best. We put a new tyre in Practice1 and I immediately felt good with it as I was already a lot quicker on the first lap and the feeling was excellent. Then I had a nasty highside, after which I couldn’t improve anymore, so my position was definitely not what I expected. Despite this setback, we have a good speed for this weekend: we will keep working for the race tomorrow morning, as it’s going to be a very difficult one – everybody is really fast here.”
20th – ALBERT ARENAS #75 (2’09.621)
“It was quite a complicated day: this morning we decided to work on the race pace, while in the afternoon we continued working on that aspect before focusing on the time attack. We had the speed, but unfortunately I crashed at turn seven on the first try: luckily I’m good, so tomorrow we’ll resume the work from here, as today we learned something new.”
