ESPARGARÓ SIXTEENTH ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE AT PHILLIP ISLAND
The low temperatures (16° C) on Phillip Island made the first day of practice at the GP of Australia rather demanding, generating conditions of poor grip and causing difficulties in keeping the Michelin tyres up to temp.
Aleix Espargaró used the two sessions to compare the two bikes available to him, each with a different configuration. These tests will continue tomorrow as well, given the difficulty interpreting the results on such cold asphalt.
Garage mate Scott Redding complained primarily of chattering problems that led to a harmless crash in FP2. The English rider’s work tomorrow will focus on this problem and tyre selection.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’ “It was a complicated day. The low temperatures and poor grip made our job difficult. We have two different bikes to compare and these conditions are not exactly ideal. In the final stages of FP2, I began to find the pace, but I am still far from the feeling that I expect to have on this circuit. We will continue the comparative tests tomorrow. We want to improve, and we will do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
SCOTT REDDING
“Riding was really very difficult for me today. I had problems with chattering from the start, decidedly more pronounced than they were on the first day in Japan. Precisely because of the vibrations, I crashed during the second session. Tomorrow we will work on this and on other tyre options.”
