In the first day of the Aragon GP, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli are fourth and ninth respectively, and they both earn a direct Q2 spot.
MotoGP was back in action today at MotorLand Aragon after a two-week break and – right from the first day of the Aragon GP – the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team confirmed to be one of the main contenders by securing double direct Q2 spots. Fabio Di Giannantonio ended Practice in fourth place and Franco Morbidelli was ninth.
Di Giannantonio had a difficult start to the weekend, as his FP1 was affected by a crash in the first stages – luckily with no physical consequences. After closing the first session in eighth place, Fabio recovered his confidence and speed in Practice, improving significantly his best laptime and showing a good pace. The rider from Rome set a 1’45”754, which allowed him to finish the day in fourth place and earn another direct Q2 spot.
It was a positive day for Morbidelli, who started his Aragon weekend with a seventh place in FP1 after being very close to the top places. In Practice, Franco confirmed his steps forward transforming both his work on track and in the garage in results: the Italian-Brazilian rider improved his best laptime in the afternoon session, and stayed constantly in the Top10 positions. Franco was ninth at the end of Practice thanks to a 1’46”218, securing a direct Q2 spot for Saturday’s Qualifying.
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 Aragon GP will conclude with the main race on Sunday, starting at 14:00 (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“The day didn’t start in the best way possible, I crash at the second lap of FP1 this morning, which was not the ideal start to the weekend. We have some work to do to understand what happened, but it will be a good information for the future; so, we can see the positives even in this situation. In the afternoon, as soon as I went on my bike, the feeling was back and I could set my rhythm, do my lines. We had good speed, good pace and good time attack, so the day was positive, overall. We saw that the rivals are ready and competitive, so our goal will be to do our maximum, as always, to be close to them.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It was a positive Friday, especially because we earned a direct Q2 spot. Overall, I am very happy with the work we’ve done. We’ve been trying different things throughout the day, and we were very strong in terms of pace in some moments. For tomorrow, it will be important to put all the things together to strengthen the pace we had today. We just need to improve even more our speed in the time attack. We’ve been fast, but we can do even better! For now, being directly in Q2 is a good starting point and it’s a positive way to start the weekend.”
