MARTIN UP TO SPEED AS DIGGIA STRUGGLES ON DAY 1 AT THE ISLAND
Day one of the Australian Grand Prix has drawn to a close after the Friday’s two free practice sessions at Phillip Island. Unlike forecast predictions, Moto3 class was blessed by good weather conditions although temperatures did not rise above 15°C (59°F).
Jorge Martin was the quickest of Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3’s duo by finishing fifth in the combined times of today’s practice. The Spaniard was out on track mainly on used tyres (28 laps overall) and was generally happy with the set-up, albeit still lacking the perfect feeling with the front-end of his motorcycle. This is, in fact, the number one priority for the rider and his crew – led by crew chief Massimo Capanna.
The other side of the pit-box witnessed a steady start by Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was down to 21st place at the end of the day. The Italian improved his morning lap-time by half a second during FP2, but that still translated in a significant 1.8s gap from the top of the timesheets – which will require a big step forward tomorrow.
Australian GP action will resume tomorrow at 10:00 local time (GMT +11) for FP3, with qualifying set to get underway later in the day at 13:35.
5th – JORGE MARTIN #88
“It’s been a positive day, we were up to speed in FP1 already and that’s great, because it was crucial to find the right feeling with the bike again after such a challenging weekend in Motegi. We worked a lot with used tyres, but the problem was that I couldn’t improve that much with fresh ones. It’s clear that we still need to improve in order to be ready for the race – while hoping that the weather will hold out.”
21st – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“Today things went bad for me. We’re two seconds of the pace and I was only able to go from 24th to 21st between FP1 and FP2 and we don’t know why. We had a steady start this morning to avoid crashes as track conditions were not perfect. But even when the asphalt dried out, things did not improve much for us. We need to find the right direction tomorrow and understand where we need to improve.”
