#SEPANGTEST DAY2: BASTIANINI ON RECORD PACE, DIGGIA ONE SECOND AWAY
It was surely a positive Sepang test for Team Gresini Racing MotoGP as the Italian squad was among the protagonists in the two-day Malaysian outing that drew to a close today.
Enea Bastianini was simply superb: with only one quick-lap attempt in the morning, he was able to log the quickest-ever lap-time on two wheels at the Sepang International Circuit. A last-turn mistake prevented him from breaking the 1’58s barrier, but it matters very little: the most significant thing was his ability to ‘easily’ put together a ‘qualifying lap’, which was his Achille’s last year.
Fabio Di Giannantonio also did very well, as he finished one second away from his teammate while continuing his learning curve ahead of next week’s test at Lombok’s Mandalika International Circuit. Too bad for the rain that came in the afternoon and took away from Diggia some precious track-time.
1st – ENEA BASTIANINI #23 – (1’58.131s – 25 laps)
“It was very exciting to get back on the bike. We were very quick both yesterday and today: if yesterday we had to shake some rust off, today we worked on speed. Due to the rain we only managed to do one time attack, but it went quite well. We also had a look at our race pace these two days as we made a few set-up changes, and we improved a lot despite starting already from an excellent base. Now we need to test a new track – we will all start from zero and we will work for the race: we want to be quick there, too.”
20th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49 – (1’59.197s – 39 laps)
“These two days have been very important, and we managed to do some significant steps forward towards being competitive. Yesterday things went smooth, while today we experienced some issues, which we were still able to fix with the team. Lap after lap I’m getting to know the bike a little bit better, and at every stop at the garage I’m getting to know the team better. Now we’ll have another three days at the Mandalika circuit, where we’ll work almost exclusively on myself and my riding style. We will also try to understand the tyres better.”
