No one has ever brought out a bottle of champagne after a free practice session, but it wouldn't be too surprising if someone had the idea this Friday within the Gresini Aprilia team after the fabulous performance by Aleix Espargaro.
Of course, you shouldn't get overexcited because these are only free tests, and on the other hand get ahead of yourself Marc Marquez of five thousandths and Andrea Dovizioso of nine hundredths is not really what we call giving them a boulevard. A final reason not to rush the celebrations is that the time of 1'29.225 achieved by Aleix is still relatively far from the track record established in 1'27.899 by Jorge Lorenzo in 2013. If the track is improved by a good layer of rubber and it does not rain too much, the times should go down.
The first free practice session was not extraordinary for the RS-GP and its Spanish driver with only the twelfth fastest time, 0.892 behind leader Marc Marquez.
In the second session, Aleix completed 15 laps, including his best in 1'29.2, another in 1'29.6 and all the others in 1'30 and 1'31. In comparison, Marc Marquez completed 8 laps in 1'29 and Andrea Dovizioso 4.
According to Alex Espargaro, who are " It's just day one, but we're clearly doing a good job. I am proud to be part of this project and I am sure that the people of Noale will also be happy with the results we achieve. »
“To be honest, I didn't expect it because this morning I didn't have a good feeling. The track conditions are quite demanding, as is always the case at Phillip Island, but in FP2 I was able to put in a good lap. »
“We can improve the pace. The RS-GP still doesn't turn as I would like and I lack a little feeling with the front. Finding a good feeling for the race will be fundamental. Today we saw a lot of falls and with the rain everything will be even harder. »
“Even if it’s only the first day, for Aprilia it’s a historic day. Right now we are doing important things for Aprilia. I am very, very proud to be involved in this project. We are making history. And we're only at the beginning. This is my first season with Aprilia, but we are working very well now. »
“I didn't feel particularly strong today, in Aragón I had a better impression, I was stronger. First place is fantastic for us, we need to improve the pace and stability of the front of the bike. She is not easy to handle. We need to have a good feeling for the race, because it will be long. »
Results of the first day of testing:
1 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'29.225
2 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'29.230 at 0.005
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'29.322 at 0.097
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda HONDA 1'29.329 to 0.104
5 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'29.423 at 0.198
6 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'29.466 to 0.241
7 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'29.604 to 0.379
8 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'29.667 to 0.442
9 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'29.702 to 0.477
10 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'29.760 at 0.535
11 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'29.820 at 595
12 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'29.977 to 0.752
13 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'29.987 at 0.762
14 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'30.046 at 0.821
15 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'30.085 to 0.860
16 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'30.140 at 0.915
17 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'30.269 to 1.044
18 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'30.274 to 1.049
19 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'30.546 to 1.321
20 2Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'30.682 to 1.457
21 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'30.777 to 1.552
22 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'31.688 to 2.463
23 Broc PARKES AUS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'32.152 to 2.927
Reference times:
Test record: 1'27.899 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2013
Lap record: 1'28.108 by Marc Marquez (Honda) in 2013
Best top speed: 348,0 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015
When you go for the fist bump but… #Awkward
🙈😂 @AleixEspargaro pic.twitter.com/UWYhLiGHip
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 20, 2017
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 244 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 233
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 203
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 170
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 168
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 125
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 116
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 111
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 70
12 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 62
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 56
14 Scott REDDING-Ducati 56
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 50
16 Loris BAZ-Ducati 45
Manufacturers:
1 HONDA 294 points
2 DUCATI 273
3 YAMAHA 265
4 SUZUKI 77
5 APRILIA 64
6 KTM 51
Teams:
1 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 414 points
2 MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 371
3 DUCATI TEAM 349
4 MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 209
5 OCTO PRAMAC RACING 167
6 PULL&BEAR ASPAR TEAM 98
7 LCR HONDA 92
8 TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 89
9 EG 0,0 MARC VDS 85
10 REALE AVINTIA RACING 70
11 APRILIA RACING TEAM GRESINI 67
12 RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 56
