PORTUGUESE FRIDAY: FEW LAPS, GOOD FEELING
Portimao 16 April. In what was a day with little significant racing-wise due to weather conditions, the riders of Team Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 still managed to shine in what was the first on-track outing in Europe for 2021 – at the Algarve International Circuit.
After the mutual decision of not taking any risk with mixed track conditions in FP1, Gabriel Rodrigo and Jeremy Alcoba made the most of the sun shining for half of the Free Practice 2 session – before the return of the rain – to complete around ten laps each.
The Argentine rider set the fastest lap of the day in 1’49.513secs as he was the only one able to break the 1’50s barrier, while Alcoba focused on his race pace knowing he will have to start from pit-lane.
The track is expected to be dry from tomorrow morning’s FP3 (starting at 9am GMT +1), while qualifying will begin at 13:35.
1st – GABRIEL RODRIGO (1’49.513)
“The day was not too important, but it is good to start on the right foot anyway and today we found a good base to work on. We decided to not lap in FP1 as the track was too slow to take any risk, and we had the reference from the test anyway. Tomorrow we will aim at getting into Q2 and qualify well.”
15th – JEREMY ALCOBA (1’50.888)
“We did only few laps, but the goal was to find the right feeling with the bike after the crash in Qatar. It was important to lap as much as possible with the dry track. We lapped on our own and there wasn’t much grip so it was not very indicative of our potential. Even if it will not count qualifying wise, we can get in Q2 especially if the track conditions will be perfect.”
