Second Row For Bastianini After Chaotic Qualifying In Argentina. ‘Diggia’ Continues To Improve
Gresini Racing Team Moto3 racer Enea Bastianini will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Argentina from the second row of the grid. Fastest yesterday in the first two free practice sessions and very competitive this morning in the third and final free practice session, the 18-year-old rider from Rimini started today’s Qualifying confident of being able to claim a spot on the front row. In the final stages of the session, however, traffic disrupted once again the flying lap of Enea, who thus ended the session with the seventh fastest time, 1’50”392, 0.6 seconds behind pole man Brad Binder. Following the penalty given to Malaysian rider Khairul Idham Pawi, Bastianini will start tomorrow from sixth on the grid.
Enea Bastianini’s team mate, rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio, finished the Qualifying in 24th place with a lap time of 1’51”231: the 17-year-old rider from Rome, who lowered by almost a second his performance from this morning’s final free practice session, will start in 23rd position following the penalty given to Bo Bendsneyder, his rival last year in the MotoGP Rookies Cup.
ENEA BASTIANINI (6th – 1’50”392)
“Like in Qatar, also on this track it was important to take advantage of slipstreams to get a good lap time: I was able to find one slipstream in the traffic, but then in front of me several riders crashed and so I was unable to complete a clean lap. However, starting from second row is not bad for the race, although we will continue to work a little on the bike set up to solve some front end issues. We will keep working during Warm Up, then we hope to have a good race”.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (23rd – 1’51”231)
“I’m quite happy because at the beginning of the session I immediately set a nice lap time, but I’m also a little bit disappointed because on my last run I felt I could do well, but due to a mistake I lost contact with the group of riders in front of me, and from that moment on I had to ride alone. Anyway the bike goes well: we found a good set up and tomorrow I will give it all to have a good race. We have what it takes to succeed!”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“I’m a little bit disappointed because the position obtained in qualifying does not reflect Bastianini’s potential, which was higher: unfortunately in the final stages of the session Enea found himself stuck in traffic and as a result we couldn’t make the most of the opportunity to improve. On the other hand, we know that we are competitive, so now we look forward to tomorrow’s race. We feel quite ready, although we still need to make some minor adjustments on the bike set up. I’m also satisfied with the performance of Di Giannantonio, who was almost a second faster than this morning: his lap time is certainly good, too bad only that he failed to improve further in the final stages, but that’s okay”.
