UPS AND DOWNS ON FRENCH FRIDAY AT DEL CONCA GRESINI’S
The French Grand Prix, fifth round of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship, has started a little bit on the back foot for Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3. The two standard bearers of the Italian squad, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martin, were unable to finish higher than seventh and eighth, respectively in the combined times of today’s two free practice sessions at Le Mans.
Free practice 1 was kind to Jorge Martin, who clocked the quickest lap-time in a cold session that saw the Spaniard exploiting the full potential of his Honda machine. Di Giannantonio, on the other hand, missed almost the entire session due to a crash.
The Italian rider, however, was able to right the wrongs in the afternoon, as he got the feeling back with his bike and improved his performance by one and a half seconds. Martin, instead, had a more of a difficult time in getting up to speed and was among the few riders who did not manage to improve their FP1 time.
7th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“This morning’s crash was really a weird one. I was riding well and feeling comfortable on my Honda. I had no warning from my bike, but after analysing the data we found out that it was because of the tyre that got too cold due to the outside temperature. In the afternoon I took it easier, as crashes don’t help you keep the confidence level high. Lap after lap I was able to improve and, although I couldn’t put together the perfect lap due to the traffic on the track, I am still happy with the bike and with the work done. We’re ready for tomorrow.”
8th – JORGE MARTIN #88
“It has been a complicated day, especially in the afternoon. We were able to settle into a nice rhythm in the morning, logging good lap-times with cold temperatures. We got on track this afternoon with the idea of doing a race simulation with both tyre options, in order to decide what to use on Sunday, but somehow I could not find a good rear-grip. We will make some changes to gearing tomorrow because with short gear ratios the bike is too aggressive. We will start from there and try to get the pace back.”
