A POSITIVE FRIDAY AT TERMAS: RODRIGO 4THAS ROSSI KEEPS IMPROVING
The on-track return three weeks after the season opener in Qatar has surely been a positive one for Team Kömmerling Gresini Moto3, with Gabriel Rodrigo near the sharp end of the field after his almost-full recover from the right-collarbone injury.
A fan favourite at Termas de Rio Hondo, the local rider did not wait too long before climbing the timesheets as he set the fourth-quickest time of the day in 1’50.080secs – which was less than two tenths of a second slower than McPhee’s lap-time. Gabriel Rodrigo completed 22 laps over the course of the day as he successfully reacquainted himself with his Honda machine after the obviously difficult round in Qatar.
The encouraging Argentine Friday extends also to Riccardo Rossi, who took his time this morning to get to grips with the exciting South American track. In the afternoon, the Italian rookie got up to speed as he improved his morning time by almost three seconds and finished with a solid 23rdplace – especially considering he had not turned a wheel at this circuit prior to today.
Moto3 proceedings will resume tomorrow morning at 9am local time (GMT -3), a session in which Rossi will try and qualify for the second qualifying session – to begin at 1pm – and therefore join his teammate who at the moment is only half a second away gap-wise.
GABRI RODRIGO #19
“Being the first day I’d say it went well. We never changed tyres in FP1 while in the second session – which a much cleaner track – I found myself a lot more at ease straight away. I was almost surprised, because with a used front and a hard rear-tyre – lapping on my own – I was really quick and competitive. The race pace is good, and then with the new tyre we were competitive, too. This is a good base where to start from tomorrow.”
RICCARDO ROSSI #54
“I must say I really like the track. It’s fast, there are some heavy-braking areas and a very long straight. I’m happy with my first day: we worked very well, and we made a big step forward compared to Qatar. We need to improve in the last sector as we need to start leaning while under braking and I still don’t have the right mark – I’m losing a lot of time there!”
