Solid Friday for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who claims a direct Q2 spot in the Practice of the French GP. Franco Morbidelli is eighteenth.
The rain, which was expected to play a key role in the French GP, gave way to sunshine on Friday: on dry track, the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team secured a direct Q2 spot with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was second in both sessions. Franco Morbidelli will go through Q1 with his eighteenth place.
It was a solid start to the weekend for Di Giannantonio, who proved to be competitive right from the FP1. Fabio ended the morning session in second place, confirming his good shape in Practice too. He led the timesheet for most of the crucial afternoon session. The rider from Rome finished the Practice in second place, improving his lap time from the morning. With his 1’29”917 he secured a direct Q2 spot.
Morbidelli had a demanding Friday both on track and in the garage: he continued the work of Jerez test to be back in the top places. It was a solid day for Franco, who improved both his position and his lap time from the FP1 to the Practice. The Italian-Brazilian rider ended his Friday of the French GP in eighteenth place, with his best time in 1’30”670 and he will go through Q1 on Saturday.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team will return to the track on Saturday for qualifying, which will begin at 10:50 (local time). This will be followed by the Sprint race at 15:00 (local time). The French GP will conclude with the main race on Sunday, starting at 14:00 (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I am happy with today’s result, because it wasn’t easy: we started the day testing some aerodynamic items and it’s never easy to be quick while trying these things. For this reason, it was hard to do the time attack with this workplan. Aerodynamic is always very personal, so I’m trying to maximize and adapt everything to me and my style. I’ve always managed to be fast on track, and the start was good. But we’re still working hard to improve the bike even more. For tomorrow, it will be important to start from the front row if we want to fight for the victory. So, that’s the goal, and then having also a good start in the Sprint.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It was a steady day for us, we continued our workplan without many problems and we focused on some things during the day, this is positive. Onestly, the performance is not the one we want yet, I don’t have the right confidence in the turns, we are verifying many things, but I can say we made a step forward both in the test and today. In some areas of the track I feel a lot of potential, the bike has a great acceleration, so it’s all about putting all the pieces together. I lost the Q2 for seven tenths, they’re not much, but they’re enoguh to be far behind in MotoGP nowadays. But, overall the day was solid.”
