Second Visit To Spain For Gresini Racing Team Moto3 At Barcelona
After the thrilling Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, the 2016 Moto3 World Championship is back on Spanish soil this weekend for another classic event on the calendar, the Grand Prix of Catalunya on the Montmelò circuit, in the outskirt of Barcelona.
On a track with a long straight of over a kilometer, which promises another exciting hard fought competition in the smaller displacement, the Gresini Racing Team Moto3 is ready to begin another important race weekend in high spirits: Enea Bastianini is physically fit and heads to one of the tracks that gave him a lot of satisfactions in the past. In 2014 the 18-year-old rider from Rimini finished second, his first podium at his only sixth race in the World Championship, then he repeated the same placement one year ago, when he missed the win by only 35 thousandths of a second.
On the other hand, his team mate Fabio Di Giannantonio is instead galvanized by the stunning second place finish obtained at Mugello: this time, on a track on which he has never raced before, the target for the 17-year-old rookie from Rome is to take another important step forward in his amazing path of growth, striving for a top ten finish.
ENEA BASTIANINI
“I’m going to Barcelona very motivated because this is a Grand Prix in which I’ve always been competitive: I like the track a lot and I’m convinced that we can do well. Things have not been easy recently, but if we can work well right from the first free practice we can do some good qualifying and a good race. Unfortunately the bad weather prevented us from work on the bike set-up in the post-race test at Mugello, so we will make the changes we had in mind directly during practice this weekend. We will try to concentrate on finding a good set-up to get ready for the race, then as always we will try our best to stay in the leading group in a race that promises to be once again uncertain until the final lap”.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I enjoyed a lot this week before the race at Barcelona, celebrating the second place at Mugello together with the whole team. After the podium in the Italian GP there is a great expectation, but our goal for the next races remains the same as before, that’s try to enter the top ten. The Barcelona track is challenging and I will race there for the first time, so first of all I hope to be able to quickly learn the track, then as mentioned I will try to stay in the top ten”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“At Mugello we had a beautiful weekend, bringing Di Giannantonio on the podium for the first time: obviously we are all very happy and we are also convinced that this result will serve to give a further boost to the whole team and also to Bastianini who, it must be reminded, came very close to the winner at Mugello despite still recovering from his wrist injury. Now we arrive at a track where Enea has always been very strong; in this last period I spoke a lot with him, in order to give him moral and to let him know that the team is supporting him a lot, so we expect a reaction from him. I think Barcelona will be a good chance to do well and we hope that this race can represent a new start for him. Di Giannantonio will have to deal with an unknown track, which anyway is similar to Mugello from a certain point of view, with long and fast corners, so I expect that Fabio can adapt to it quickly, showing a good performance”.
