We are obviously not proud of it, but we were not necessarily wrong when we somewhat tempered Ruben Xaus's optimism at the end of the first day of testing for the Italian MotoGP Grand Prix.
Following this day at Scarperia which he finished in exactly the same position as during his first Grand Prix in this category in Qatar, Luca marini indeed retained this 17th position during qualifying, before crossing the finish line...in 17th position!
The number 17 therefore stuck to the skin of the young pilot of the Sky VR46 Avintia, which is all the less of an improvement compared to Qatar (16th) as this result is accompanied by a significant gap of 50 seconds compared to to hell with a winner.
The Italian suffered from a confidence problem during his home race, which was a shame because he wore a national livery to great effect on his Ducati GP19.
No one is a prophet in his country, and let's wish him a better weekend in Barcelona!
Luca marini (SATURDAY) : “I'm not entirely satisfied with today's qualifying: I expected to be faster and further ahead in the standings. We definitely missed something, we didn't make many changes to the bike compared to yesterday and I especially struggled with the rear grip. We will look at the data, we will continue to work to find something for the warm up. For the race, I'm still evaluating which tire to use: I tried the hard one at the front in FP4 but I suffered. We will probably opt for a Medium/Medium combination even if it will be necessary to manage wear in the long term. »
Luca marini (Sunday) : “A really difficult race, where we had a lot of difficulty. We need to get back to work to close the gap. I had a similar problem in Qatar: I couldn't feel the rear tire, I couldn't get it to work properly. I lost when entering corners and also when accelerating. A strange thing that never happened to me during the weekend. The lap gap was very difficult to accept and we have to understand what happened because we haven't made any big changes to the bike since Friday. »
Reuben Xaus : “A complicated Sunday from several points of view: This heat was not easy for Luca to manage. We struggled with the setup and it's a shame for the points, but Luca certainly gained a lot of experience in such a critical situation by finishing the race. We must continue to work to find something more. »
Consequently, still with a capital of 9 points, Luca Marini retains his 21st place in the championship, but from now on alone, Miguel Oliveira et Valentino Rossi who had the same number of points at the start of the Italian weekend having finished the latter in a much better position.
Standings for the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix at Mugello:
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
