Enea Bastianini saw his day change completely at the end of Practice, and was the first to be surprised to have automatically gone into Q2.
Enea Bastianini He hadn't expected the first day of the Dutch Grand Prix to end so well. This morning, in FP1, he had finished 15th and then remained quite far down the order for much of the afternoon's practice session, before the situation completely changed.
Much more comfortable towards the end of the session, he ultimately finished eighth and secured his fourth automatic entry into Q2 this season. While he benefited from having his teammate Maverick Viñales in his sights, he managed to find the necessary pace to finish in the top 10.
“Being in Q2 already is always a pleasure because getting through Q1 is always very difficult. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it, because the start of the session was really tough. I went out on track with a worn front tire, and it never worked. I tried to do two runs and I was very slow and worried. But the problems practically disappeared, and that was a nice surprise. Then we made a few changes to prepare for the final time attack and we managed to get into Q2.”, he said during his debriefing.
“It’s certain that having a reference point ahead, even a distant one, helps us. On a circuit like this, with all these changes of direction, it’s easier to follow someone on our bike because it seems to become lighter in the changes of direction. On the other hand, when I’m alone, I struggle a lot with that.”
"[The change in temperatures between today and Sunday] is not an ideal situation for us.", he continued. “What poses the biggest challenge for us is understanding how to adjust the motorcycle when going from cold to hot conditions, or vice versa, because its behavior changes dramatically. Such a significant change in conditions doesn't particularly help us. That said, we generally manage to do a bit better when the temperatures drop, so that could be a positive point.”
Results of the Practice of the Dutch Grand Prix :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
