Great start of the weekend for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, Franco Morbidelli leads the timesheet on Friday and Fabio Di Giannantonio is fourth. Both riders gained a spot in Q2 in Lusail.

The most peculiar weekend of the season starts in a good way for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, that shines in the lights of the Lusail International Circuit with both riders. Franco Morbidelli is the leader on Friday and Fabio Di Giannantonio is fourth, so they secure the automatic Q2 in the Qatar GP.

The day ended on a high for Morbidelli, who was sixth in the Free Practice 1, but he improved both the time and the rhythm in the Practice. In the crucial night session, Franco got better laptimes and he was on the lead of the timesheet in 1’50”830. It was a promising start for the #21, whose goal is to confirm the good feelings in qualifying and in the Sprint of Saturday.

Good start for Di Giannantonio too, on his Ducati Desmosedici GP he ended the FP1 in second place, and he improved his lap time in the Practice. He was fourth in 1’51”129 and he secured the automatic Q2, Fabio made some steps forward between the two sessions, showing a good time attack and an interesting rhythm.

The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track on Saturday for the Qualifying of the Qatar GP, which will kick off at 3:40 pm (local time, +1 CET). The Sprint will start at 8 pm (local time).

FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I am enjoying the weekend so far, this morning we did a super job because we were pretty fast, and this afternoon we were able to improve a little bit. Honestly, I am not super happy with my feeling with the bike, I think we have margin to improve, because we tried many things in the afternoon. Apart of this, I am happy because despite these problems we were there and not so far, I think we can do a really good job tomorrow even if there will be a nice fight, like a proper boxing fight in terms of lap times. It seems that many Ducati riders have the chance to be in pole. You will have fun.”

FRANCO MORBIDELLI
"Great start of the weekend, I felt really good with the bike straight away this afternoon. We had some problems during the start of the second session, but then we were able to be very quick with new tyres, so I am really happy. There is some work to do to be more consistent with the soft tyre but also with the medium, because in the beginning I couldn’t use it properly. I talked to Valentino right after both sessions, we can feel he is in the garage, his advice is like gold to us. It’s good to start the weekend in this way with him here in Lusail. We started well and we need to continue like this. The team made a great job today, for sure, tomorrow the grip is gonna be different and it’s gonna be hotter than today. But the goal for Saturday is to fight for the front row and to be prepared for the Sprint.”