POSITIVE DEBUT FOR SALAČ IN INDIA
Team Moto2 QJMOTOR GRESINI tackled today the opening day of action in what is the first-ever Indian Grand Prix – which takes place at the Buddh International Circuit. Filip Salač felt good straight away as he was fifth quickest in P1. The rider #12 was quick also in the afternoon, where despite a small crash he logged a 1’52.715secs lap-time that translated in an eighth place in the combined times.
Jeremy Alcoba had a bit more of a challenging start as he struggled to get up to speed around the new circuit: he managed to improve the feeling under braking with the hard tyre option in the second session as he recorded an improve time of 1’53.374secs. The Spanish rider is therefore 20th in the combined timesheets for today, and outside the provisional Q2 lot for four tenths of a second.
8th – FILIP SALAČ #12 (1’52.715)
“Heat aside, it was a positive day; we did a good job, and I chose to lap on my own rather than with other riders, and we still finished in the top ten – which is our target. I’m back being the ‘early season Filip’, I’m having fun again and I can’t wait to return to the track tomorrow! I would like to thank the team for the job done: we still have margin to improve as I made several mistakes in my quick-lap attempt, I was hitting the brakes too late, and my lines can still improve. We know where we can get better, and we’ll do so tomorrow.”
20th – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 (1’53.374)
“I’m disappointed with this first day: we are once again currently outside of the Q2 group. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the right set-up in the first session and then I struggled to get the right references with this track, which is completely new for all of us. Then in the afternoon, despite the heat, I had a better feeling under braking with the hard tyre, so much that I managed to improve by a whole second. Then with the new tyre I made a few mistakes during the last lap: I likely would have still got into Q2, but I found traffic and had to slow down. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
