TEAM FEDERAL OIL WORKING HARD ON DAY ONE AT MONTMELÓ
#CatalanGP Free Practice. The opening day of action at Montmeló was not an easy one for Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 as Fabio Di Giannantonio and Nicolò Bulega could not finish higher than eleventh and seventeenth, respectively.
Di Giannantonio, who was slowed down by a technical problem this morning, lapped 0.7seconds slower than today’s top time, and he is currently inside the group who are eligible for a direct seed to Q2.
After being declared fit to ride, Nicolò Bulega was quite quick today. The #11, who was in the ‘Q2 lot’ this morning, ended up with a sub-par 22nd place in FP2. The combined times see the Italian in 17th place and only thousandths of a second away from a Q2 direct access.
11th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21 (1’44.356)
“We started this morning with a technical problem that cost us almost half the session… The idea was to start with the hard tyre and then go for the softer option, in order to evaluate the morning conditions from every angle. In the afternoon we struggled a bit more as the track was a bit damper. The grip always fades a bit in the afternoon here and we need to find more of it at the rear-end as we’re struggling a bit in that department.”
17th – NICOLÒ BULEGA #11 (1’44.553)
“Unfortunately, the shoulder is still bothering me and I really need to ride through the pain. We started well this morning and we made a step forward compared to the test. Track conditions changed in the afternoon and we struggled a lot more with higher temperatures, so we’ll have to take that into consideration while preparing for tomorrow.”
