Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli secure the direct access to Q2 of the Malaysian Grand Prix despite less-than-ideal weather conditions.
Friday at the Malaysian Grand Prix unfolded under tricky conditions due to the rain, but the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team held its ground with determination, securing direct access to Q2 with both Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.
Di Giannantonio chose not to take excessive risks in FP1, where he finished 17th due to the rain that fell in the final moments of the session. Fabio showed his potential in the Practice, securing direct access to Q2 with the sixth-fastest time (1:58.039) after a late shower at the end of the session. The #49 ended Friday as the top Ducati rider.
A calm start to the weekend for Morbidelli as well: he was close to the Top10 in the FP1 that was affected by the rain. Franco made a step forward in the Practice, where he managed to secure direct access to Q2 at the Malaysian Grand Prix with seventh place (1:58.041), having shown a strong pace in dry conditions.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track on Saturday for qualifying, which begins at 10:50 a.m. (local time, +6 CET). The Sprint race will follow at 3:00 p.m. (local time). The Malaysian Gran Prix will end on Sunday with the main race, that will start at 3 p.m. (local time, +7 CET due to the time change in Europe).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I’m really happy, because this morning the feeling wasn’t great, but we believed we had identified the problem. This afternoon we confirmed that there was room for improvement, and, with the change we made, we could take a big step forward. After the first time attack, it started raining, so everyone thought the session was over. But we went back out on track despite the raindrops, and I managed to put in a great lap at the end. Overall, I feel good; the feeling is positive. We definitely need to improve with the medium tyre, even though there isn’t much data because of the rain. But with the soft tyre, we’re strong. We’ll see tomorrow how the medium performs, because the gap between the two tyres is quite big.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It’s fantastic, we achieved our main goal of Friday. Today the team did an amazing job, and we were able to secure direct access to Q2. That’s really important, because we hadn’t managed to go straight into Q2 for three weekends, so finishing in the Top10 is great, I’m happy. It’s a particular moment of the season the balance of performance is hard to predict or take for granted; even I find it difficult to understand who might be strong. But, lokking at us, we’ll keep working and giving our best to continue in this direction throughout the whole weekend.”
