Positive Friday at Spielberg for Franco Morbidelli, who is seventh and secures a direct spot in Q2. Fabio Di Giannantonio had a more complicated day, and he is 15th.

The Austrian GP marks the end of the summer break, and the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team starts the Friday with the direct Q2 for Franco Morbidelli, who is back after his injury. At Spielberg, Fabio Di Giannantonio struggles more, and he is out of the Top 10 just for two tenths.

Following his absence at Brno due to the left shoulder injury, Morbidelli was back at the Austrian GP, where he focused on finding again the feeling on his Ducati Desmosedici GP. Franco ended the FP1 in fifth place, confirming his good feeling in the Practice too. The #21 rider was seventh (1:28.696) and secured the direct Q2 spot.

Challenging day for Di Giannantonio, who started the first free practice session by working on the feeling on his Ducati Desmosedici GP. Fabio ended the FP1 in thirteenth place. The #49 rider couldn’t express his potential in the Practice because of some difficulties. He is fifteenth in 1:29.058 and he will have to go through the Q1 in Saturday’s qualifying.

The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track on Saturday for qualifying, which begins at 10:50 a.m. (local time CET). The Sprint race will follow at 3:00 p.m. (local time). The Austrian Grand Prix will end on Sunday with the main race, that will start at 2 p.m. (local time).

FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I was hoping for something better, we made some changes in the right direction. Unfortunately, they were not enough to be in Q2. In the Practice, I was doing a good lap in the first time attack, but I lost the rear and I went out. In the second one, there was a lot of traffic and I couldn’t complete a fast lap. This result lefts us with a bad taste in our mouth, because I could have passed to Q2 in the first attempt. We are struggling a bit, but we are getting closer. We keep working and tomorrow we will try to bounce back to be closer to the top.”

FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It’s good to be back! It was a very positive day. This morning I understood right away that I had no problem in the shoulder, this means we did a great job during the summer break, and I’m happy. In the FP1 we started the work to improve the feeling with the Ducati. Litte by little, we improved and this afternoon we were very strong with the tyres in race mode. I was hoping for something more in the time attack, but we will try to improve tomorrow. We will need to do a great qualifying. The starting position is crucial, so being in front will be important.”