Frantic Phillip Island Qualifying delivers 6th and 7th row for Bastianini and Di Giannantonio
Gresini Racing Team Moto3 riders Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio will start tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix from the sixth and the seventh row of the grid, respectively. As happened during all the three free practice sessions, bad weather affected also today’s Qualifying session at the Phillip Island circuit: with the track gradually drying out, the riders in fact could only take advantage of the last 4 minutes, when the session was restarted after a red flag, to try to get their best lap times with slick tyres.
With all the riders on track at the same time Enea Bastianini was not able to improve his performance of 1’39”513 obtained before the red flag, and so he had to settle for sixteenth place. Fabio Di Giannantonio has instead managed to improve in his last attempt, finishing 21st in 1’39”675, having been slowed down by a contact between two other riders though.
ENEA BASTIANINI (16th – 1’39”513)
“When we got back on track after the red flag it was definitely not easy to take advantage of the last minutes available: despite all the regulations there are still many riders who slow down and as a result is always complicated to be in the right place at the right time. Moreover, I was struggling to hold the line and the bike was moving in acceleration. I’m a little disappointed with the result, but I’m trying to see the positive side: we still improved by 9 positions the performance obtained in last year’s qualification… Now we will work to solve these issues for the race: hopefully it will be dry and we want to be competitive to recover”.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (21st – 1’39”675)
“The last few minutes of Qualifying were really chaotic, with a lot of traffic: unfortunately right in my last lap, when I was improving, two riders had a contact in front of me and I was forced to slow down. Too bad, it was a mistake to stay in the midst of so many riders: after all practice on wet, in the dry I was learning a lot at every lap and surely I could get a good result. Considering the progress made today and my feeling with the bike, which is positive, I remain confident for tomorrow’s race: we just need to work a little on the front end and make a good tire choice, then we can have another good recovery! Anyway the track is beautiful, and also today I enjoyed a lot riding!”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“It’s been a difficult qualifying, no doubt! Unfortunately in the last few minutes we were unable to get the results we expected. The race, however, is tomorrow, so we will keep working focused to try to recover. After all the practice sessions halted by bad weather it won’t be easy for anyone”.
