Bagnaia sets third quickest time on the opening day of practice for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring. Bastianini in sixteenth
Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia clocked the third quickest time on the opening day of free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, round 10 of the MotoGP World Championship at the Red Bull Ring, securing a spot directly in Q2 tomorrow.
In the afternoon’s crucial practice session, which was marked by a few drops of rain, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider was lying in fourth place for much of the hour, but he put in the quickest lap of 1:28.821 on his fourth exit to move to the front of the field with approximately 10 minutes remaining. During the final few minutes of time-attack, however, he was unable to improve on his mark and was edged off the top slot by Bezzecchi, who took the top spot on the Ducati Desmosedici GP of VR46 Racing Tea, and by Viñales (Aprilia).
Teammate Enea Bastianini, P11 in the morning, had a crash when at Turn 2 in the afternoon and couldn’t go beyond the sixteenth place (1:29.515), meaning that he will have to go through Q1 as well tomorrow.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd (1:28.821)
“It has not happened often the last weekends to be in the top 3 on Friday. In FP2, we improved my feeling from the morning, and I felt better from the start with the front tyre. The pace was quite fast, but we only had one time attack because, in the second attempt, the traffic on the track was too much. But overall, I’m happy, we tested the new fairing, and what we were searching for from the fairing is better, we have improved the wheelieing. Let’s see tomorrow, it will be important to be in the top 3 for sure for qualifying; it’s true that it’s easier in this track to overtake, but the front pressure right now can be a problem.”
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 16th (1:29.515)
“Today could have been better! We started not bad, but when I tried to push more, the same problems emerged, and so at the end of FP1, my feeling was not good. I tried other solutions for FP2, but the difference was too small to be competitive, and then I lost the front at turn 2 and crashed. I’m not happy about this day, but we must stay calm and be more focussed on the set-up and sensations and not think a lot about the result because now we are not competitive. This bike is different from the old one, and my riding style is incorrect. It’s difficult to do something different because I have only done one full race with my shoulder, OK, so we need time.”
MotoGP Saturday’s track action at the Red Bull Ring will see Free Practice 2 scheduled for 10.10 CEST, while qualifying follows shortly after at 10.50. The afternoon’s 14-lap Sprint will get underway at 15.00.
