CHALLENGING OPENING DAY FOR TEAM GRESINI MOTOGP IN PORTUGAL
#PortugueseGP free practice. The opening day of free practice at the Algarve International Circuit was marked by rain and difficult conditions and saw Enea Bastianini and Di Giannantonio far from top positions in today’s combined times of the premier class.
The World Championship leader still had a somewhat positive day. He worked hard with the team to find the best feeling with said conditions – normally not his favourites – but the consistent lap-times set throughout the day bode well for the rest of the weekend. His 16th quickest time currently places him outside the group of riders eligible for a direct seed to Q2, but hopefully FP3 will be held under much better weather.
Fabio Di Giannantonio continues his learning curve, even though the pouring rain did not make things easy for the rookie. The focus for the day was to search for a better rear-end grip on a track that was quite dangerous in some areas due to adverse weather conditions.
16th – ENEA BASTIANINI #23 (1’51.847)
“We gathered a little bit of data and experience in the wet and we’re not as bad as it would appear by looking at the timesheets. We’ve been consistent and our pace was good after all. We’re not too far, but I still hope the weather improves tomorrow. Today, especially at the end FP2, there was way too much water on track and it was kind of a struggle. I hope I’ll have the honour to also ride in the dry.”
23rd – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49 (1’52.881)
“I would give today a six out of ten. We’re not too quick but today’s conditions were kind of extreme. The grip changes depending on the amount of water on the track and there was a lot of it today… I’m trying to learn and understand the bike even in these conditions, even though I would have preferred a more ‘usual’ type of wet conditions. We made some steps forward in the afternoon even though we mainly focused on trying to find more rear-end grip, especially on corner entry.”
