FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE AT MUGELLO
IN VERY CLOSE STANDINGS ALEIX AND ANDREA BATTLE FOR A SPOT IN THE TOP TEN
The first day of practice ahead of the long-awaited GP of Italy at Mugello was characterised by very close standings with all the riders in a very tight group. It is a situation in which just a few tenths of a second, on a long a difficult track like the one in Tuscany, can mean a difference of several positions.
Aleix Espargaró was a protagonist in the morning, finishing FP1 in fifth place with a time of 1’47.812, just 25 hundredths behind leader Marc Márquez. Aleix lapped more than a half a second faster than last year, and in the afternoon session he was even faster, finishing with a time of 1’47.612 but in sixteenth place, although only 88 hundredths from the lead.
Andrea Iannone made a step forward compared to the difficult Le Mans race where he was also limited by problems with his left ankle, fresh from the crash in Jerez. His physical conditions no longer seem to be a worry, and Andrea was able to resume the development path on his RS-GP, improving between the first and second session with a time of 1,47.887 which puts him in nineteenth place and just over one second behind the leader.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“This morning I was able to do a few good laps. The slipstream helped because we know how important that is here at Mugello. In the afternoon, on the other hand, we were unable to make as much progress. We are struggling a bit in mid-turn where the bike tends to slide around, losing the line. The new fairing is certainly an improvement. The bike is more agile, although it generates more aerodynamic load.”
ANDREA IANNONE
“If we look at the position it may seem like a complicated day, but instead I am rather satisfied with the way we worked today. We are one second behind the leaders, the new fairing let us make a small step forward. We are struggling with rear tyre grip at the moment, in the sense that, when we have too much, the bike pushes in braking and we are unable to slow down as we would like. We have a rather clear idea, but we need to keep working non-stop.”
