The Grand Prix in Styria opened this Friday with even a hint of rain in the afternoon. Conditions which put young Iker Lecuona at the forefront while his teammate Miguel Oliveira has already secured a potential place in Q2. So we’ll say it was a decent opening day at the Red Bull Ring for Oliveira and Lecuona…
The first day of the Austrian Motorrad Grand Prix was full of sensations for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team. Miguel Oliveira et Iker Lecuona both did an excellent job of kicking off the first of two “Home Grand Prix” for manufacturer KTM and title sponsor of the team, Red Bull.
Olive tree finished the first day in seventh position, missing the summit by only 0,525 seconds, while the premier class rookie lecuona finished just 0,273 seconds behind his teammate. In FP2, which was determined by mixed track conditions, lecuona even managed to climb to a fantastic second position, followed by Olive tree in P3.
“I felt like I could be faster”
« After all, today was a positive day » comments Olive tree, seventh. “ With the weather conditions being very unstable, we definitely wanted to be in the top 10 for both sessions and we finally managed to do that in the morning. I felt like I could have been a little faster in the first session, despite a little brake problem, but in the end it was. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, setting myself the goal of achieving a good result ».
Iker Lecuona, fifteenth completed the analysis: “ about this Friday I'm really happy, firstly because in FP1 I finished very close to the best riders in 15th position. It's my first time in the MotoGP category and I really like the way we work inside the box and also outside. Finishing second in the FP2 session gives me huge confidence, even though I was already very confident for this weekend before! I hope we can continue like this"
« I always felt comfortable with these track conditions. You have to take more risks usually, but that's OK. I'm very happy with FP1 because I rode alone and when I switched to the new tire I was 15th and only 7/10 slower than the fastest, which is very good for me. I still have to continue to improve in the dry but we are progressing step by step, although I have never yet ridden on a completely wet track, with the exception of once at Jerez. So we have to wait and see what the weather will be like ».
MotoGP Red Bull Ring 1 J1: times
