THE POSITIVE STREAK CONTINUES FOR ALEIX, IN THE PROVISIONAL TOP 10 AGAIN AT SEPANG
SOME PROBLEMS SLOW IANNONE, CRASHING WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
The tropical temperatures and the high humidity have, as always, put riders and bikes to the test on the first day of practice at Sepang in Malaysia. Despite this, the good track conditions let the riders lap in extremely interesting times.
At the end of the day, Aleix Espargaró confirmed his and the Aprilia RS-GP’s good trend, shaving off more than a tenth between the two sessions and finishing ninth in the combined standings. This is a result that provisionally sends him straight through to Q2.
On the other hand, a few technical problems slowed down the work in Andrea Iannone’s box and he was able to lap less than expected, also due to a crash in FP2. After ruling out any physical consequences, the Italian rider will pick up where he left off tomorrow in preparation for the race, with a positive note: the good pace he demonstrated on a used tyre.
ALEIX ESPARGARÒ
“Overall, I am satisfied with the first day. I feel good on this track. In recent races we have been consistently competitive. The RS-GP is performing well from every point of view. There are a few riders with a vastly better pace than everyone else, but the rest of the rankings are close. We can improve our fast lap. Today I did it with the medium rear and I think I was the only one. It’s a good sign for qualifying and for the race.”
ANDREA IANNONE
“When I had my crash during FP2 I was lapping well with used tyres. Unfortunately, we lost time in the two sessions due to a few technical problems, so that puts us at a disadvantage in preparing for the race. We can catch up and we’ll give it our all. I hope tomorrow is a less complicated day.”
