As the riders head into qualifying Francesco Bagnaia has not emerged as the weekend front runner after topping main practice this afternoon at Speilberg. After falling behind in FP1 Bagnaia bounced back in true reigning champion form. After finishing main practice Bagnaia said, “We’re happy, because we were able to try everything we had scheduled to try. This track suits my riding style well and I felt comfortable already from the first run. This afternoon, we made another step forward during the second run which was in the same direction we took from the morning, and that helped me a lot; unfortunately I didn’t feel like it was worth taking the risk to try the hard front tire, which would have still been an important piece of the puzzle; we chose not to as most of the riders who tried it ended up crashing.”
Jorge Martin Stays in Top 3 for Pramac
After leading FP1 Jorge Martin found himself short of the benchmark 1m28.508s lap set by Bagnaia. However the day was still a positive one for the Prima Pramac Team after Franco Morbidelli took Ps and Martin just behind in third. The riders said:
Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac Racing rider – Practice, P2
“I am very happy with today’s performance. We have been improving step by step throughout the day, and I am glad to have done a great time attack, which is extremely important to secure direct access to Q2 on Friday. Thanks to Ducati and Prima Pramac, I found a familiar team, and that has been important for my continued progression and adaptation to the bike. The weekend is still long, but it’s fantastic to start as well as this”.
Jorge Martín, Prima Pramac Racing rider – Practice, P3
“In general, the sensations have been good today. In the afternoon, I had a bit more work to do because I wanted to improve the feeling I had in the morning. There were a few adjustments needed, and we made them. We had to make quite a few changes to the bike, and in the end, I was able to maintain a good rhythm, test all compounds of tyres, and do much more work than usual. In the end, I was able to be competitive, so I’m pleased”.
Full Practice Results