SALAČ AGAIN IN THE TOP TEN, ZACCONE STRUGGLES IN AUSTRALIAN QUALIFYING
Qualifying – #AustralianGP The sun finally shone on the Phillip Island circuit, even if temperatures remain low. The standard bearers of team Gresini Racing Moto2 were back on track in the morning for Free Practice 3, which saw Filip Salač earning the direct admission to Q2 after finishing within the top ten in the combined FP times courtesy of a 1’33.614secs lap-time. Qualifying led to an identical result for the Czech rider, who was tenth at checkered flag. He still needs a couple of set-up adjustments on his Kalex #12, but the feeling is good and he is ready to battle for what could be his second podium of the season.
After yesterday’s crashes, Alessandro Zaccone had to make the most of FP3 to keep studying the track, which was still kind of an unknown for the Italian due to the lack of past experiences (and track-time on day one) at this venue. The Italian rider was able to improve both the bike set-up and his performance, but it was not enough to make it into Q2. Tomorrow, he will line up on the tenth row of the grid for the third-last race of the year, which will get underway at 12:20 local time (GMT +11).
10th – FILIP SALAČ #12 (1’32.970)
“Another Saturday of racing is behind us, and we can say we’re happy with another direct admission to Q2 and a top-ten qualifying result. My only regret is that I didn’t do a third outing in Q2, as my opponents were able to improve some more – while I ended up in tenth place. In any case, our pace is good – even when riding on our own. We still have to make a few little adjustments but we’re strong and ready for the race – which is going to be very different than practice. We have to think about having fun as we have done a good job so far!”
28th – ALESSANDRO ZACCONE #61 (1’34.607)
“Unfortunately, with the two crashes I had in FP1 and FP2 we ended up losing a whole day of work. We tried to recover as much as possible today, but it’s hard to find the ideal set-up in just one day.We will keep working for tomorrow’s race and I’ll try to recover some positions.”
