The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team secures the tenth place in the Sprint with Fabio Di Giannantonio at Spielberg. Franco Morbidelli crashes.
Saturday of the Austrian GP proved to be more challenging than expected for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, which ended a sunny Sprint at Spielberg in tenth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio. It was a tough race for Franco Morbidelli, who crashed with four laps to go, luckily without physical consequences.
Di Giannantonio started from the third row thanks to his eighth place in Qualifying, his best result ever on the Styrian track (1’28”612). In the Sprint, a complicated start prevented Fabio to gain positions, remaining in the group fighting for the Top19. The rider from Rome was very determined, and he crossed the finish line in tenth place. Di Giannantonio keeps the fourth position in the World Standing with 223 points.
It was a tough Saturday for Morbidelli, who was nineteenth in Qualifying (1’29”554). Franco started from the seventh row and struggled to show his potential right from the first laps. A crash at lap 11 when he was in nineteenth place prevented him to bounce back. Morbidelli is now sixteenth in the World Standing with 56 points.
The Austrian GP will conclude tomorrow with the main race, which will start at 2:00 p.m. (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“Until the qualifying, the weekend was not bad, but I had low grip at the rear and I struggle more in the Sprint. I made a couple of mistakes in the first laps, I went wide and I lost positions, this affected me a bit. But we want to stay positive and focused because we are adapting to this track more and more. Now, we work to understand how we can improve even more for tomorrow’s race.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“Today in the Sprint I crashed at Turn 2, maybe I arrived to the corner a little faster than usual and I lost the front. Luckily, I’m ok. Anyway, the race was not going very well, I had already made a mistake at Turn 9 and I went wide. I was trying to recover, but then I crashed. We still have tomorrow to bounce back. We must remain confident and determined to solve the issues that have been affecting us this weekend.”
