VALENCIA FRIDAY: TOP TEN FOR ALCOBA, RODRIGO ON THE CHASE
The penultimate event of the season is underway once again at Valencia’s Circuito Ricardo Tormo, with Jeremy Alcoba and Gabriel Rodrigo tackling the first two free practice sessions of the weekend. It was a good day especially for the #52, who was 10th in today’s combined times (1’38.680secs) and only 267 thousandths of a second away from Arbolino’s provisional pole position.
The Spaniard, who this Sunday will have a shot at clinching the “Rookie of the Year 2020” title on his 19thbirthday, completed 31 laps throughout the day but was unable to improve his performance in the afternoon.
It was not an exciting day for Gabriel Rodrigo: The Argentine rider finished in 23rd place, even though the 0.697secs gap is not a worrying one. He lost plenty of time in FP2 with what was likely an underperforming new tyre, which forces the #2 to push harder tomorrow from 10 o’clock local time (GMT +1) in what will be a crucial FP3 for his direct Q2 admission hopes.
10th – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 (1’38.680)
“We’re working on our own and doing well. I already beat by best time at this track and we’re currently in Q2, even though times are really close. We’ll have to set a good lap tomorrow and hopefully with a good slipstream. The bike is basically ready; we’re trying some little setup changes but we’re ready for the weekend.”
23rd – GABRIEL RODRIGO #2 (1’39.110)
“We tried many things in order to improve especially with regards to speed. We did many combinations even though we’re yet to find the perfect one. Surely in the afternoon the feeling was improving, but once we put the new tyre on we only had issues and took a lot of risks. The pace on our own, however, is good and tomorrow we’ll try to get closer to the front.”
