Challenging Friday for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team: Franco Morbidelli is directly to Q2 in ninth, while Fabio Di Giannantonio will go through Q1 from eighteenth.
A lot of work on track and in the garage for both the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team riders in the first day of the French Grand Prix. Franco Morbidelli is ninth and secures a spot directly in Q2, while teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio is eighteenth and will need to battle through Q1.
Morbidelli started the day with the seventh position in FP1, after recovering some time at the end of the session following a crash at Turn 8. Franco improved his time attack in the afternoon (1:30.509), so he could make to Q2 directly in Saturday’s qualifying.
The first day in Le Mans was tougher for Di Giannantonio: he was out of the Top10 because of some difficulties in FP1 and he struggled in the Practice too. Fabio ended the day in eighteenth place (1:31.257), but he is optimistic about making progress tomorrow.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track on Saturday for qualifying, which begins at 10:50 a.m. CET. The Sprint race will follow at 3:00 p.m. The French Grand Prix will end on Sunday with the main race, that will start at 2 p.m. (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“Today was a tough day, I expected to struggle less and to be a bit faster. I have no feeling at the front and I can’t push as I wish, it’s the first time it happens. But we’ll keep working and try to figure out what I need to take a step forward tomorrow. We’ll look at what the others are doing, but our focus has to be on improving our own package. We are competitive and this is our first tough weekend. We must be focused and smart in days like these.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“Overall, the day was positive because we are in Q2, but a lot happened. I crashed this morning, and when in the Practice I came back on track on the same bike, something didn’t work. We tried to fix the problems during the session, even though we didn’t manage many clean laps during the time attack, we still went fast. Time was limited today, but we are in Q2 and this is positive. I am happy with the job done by the team. Making many kilometers will be important tomorrow to understand what to do on the bike to improve. Phisycally, I’m feeling good.”
