Bad weather disrupts opening day at Phillip Island
Gresini Racing Team Moto3 riders Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio faced today the first day of practice of the Australian Grand Prix at the spectacular Phillip Island circuit. Both of today’s free practice sessions took place under the rain, with conditions a lot worse in the afternoon.
Despite adverse conditions, Fabio Di Giannantonio made the most of the two 40-minute sessions to learn as much as possible the track, putting in 24 laps also setting good lap times: the 18-year-old rookie from Rome was eighth fastest in the combined classification thanks to the time clocked in the morning, 1’51”515. In the afternoon session heavy rain didn’t allow the riders to improve, “Diggia” nevertheless proving to be fast again with 1’56”765.
The other Gresini Racing Team Moto3 racer, Enea Bastianini, has instead completed only 8 laps today: the 18-year-old rider from Rimini set 1’52”180 in the early stages of the morning session, before a highside after which he preferred to stay in the garage. Enea then returned on track in the afternoon, completing only 3 laps just to regain confidence with the bike, avoiding taking more risks considering the pouring rain.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (8th – 1’51”515)
“This is the most beautiful track in the world! Today I enjoyed a lot riding here, and although those were not the ideal conditions for learning the track, I think that today has been a very positive day. The morning session was already quite good, and the second session was even better: I set the 11th fastest time in FP2, but in my second run, with a lot of rain, I was the fastest on the track at that moment. We made some good steps forward during the day, and my feeling has increased lap after lap, so I’m delighted! Tomorrow it could rain in the morning, while the Qualifying may be dry, hovewer I’m confident regardless of the conditions we will meet. We can be a surprise!”.
ENEA BASTIANINI (16th – 1’52”180)
“This morning we started the day on the right foot: my feeling with the bike was good and although I was struggling a bit to keep the line I had a good feeling both on corner entry and on the exit. Unfortunately after a few laps I approached Turn 4 a bit too aggressive: I made a mistake on the exit, opening the throttle too fast and making a highside. In the fall I hit the neck and the back, so I decided not to continue the session and go to the Clinica Mobile. In the afternoon I hit the track again in order to regain feeling with the bike: after a crash it’s important to try to be back quickly in the groove. However, I only did three laps and regardless of the final lap time I found a good rhythm, so I’m quite happy. We are not worried, I’m confident that tomorrow we can do very well on both dry and wet”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“It’s positive that Di Giannantonio managed to do a lot of laps despite the adverse conditions: it was important for him to make kilometers on a track he had never seen before. After the crash in the morning, Enea preferred to proceed more calmly, because in the afternoon there was really a lot of water on the track. All in all tomorrow we will restart the weekend from zero, with the only difference that at least Fabio was able to learn a bit the track”.
