Tito Rabat started his weekend in Misano in a very positive way. The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS driver today slipped into the top ten of the first day of testing for the San Marino Grand Prix.
Rabat patiently got his bearings this morning on a track that was still wet after heavy rain during the night. The former world champion then took advantage of the ideal afternoon conditions to improve his times under the bright sunshine.
Rabat thus achieved one of the best progressions of the day by improving his morning time by 1.4 seconds. A lap in 1'33.820 even allowed him to climb into tenth position, just half a second behind the best time achieved by Danilo Petrucci, specialist on the Italian circuit.
The performance of Rabat could prove decisive if the track was still wet tomorrow morning. It would indeed allow the Spaniard to directly access Q2 for the second time since his debut in MotoGP.
The first day of testing for this San Marino Grand Prix, however, was more complicated for Jack Miller who recovered without damage this afternoon from a fall at the first corner.
Although rather satisfied with his pace on racing tires, Miller did not manage to lower his times as he hoped in FP2. Thirteenth this morning, the Australian was once again able to measure the level of competitiveness of the MotoGP championship by failing this afternoon in eighteenth place just 1.1 seconds behind the best time.
Tito Rabat: 10th – 1'33.820
« The day was very positive because we managed to build and progress from the good feeling we found during the last race at Silverstone. I have confidence in the front and I have grip in the rear. This allows me to attack harder without having that feeling of always being at the limit. I was strong in FP2 and it feels good to be able to slip into the top ten. You never know what can happen in MotoGP, especially with the weather, and it's always important to be able to set a time when possible. Even if the track remains dry tomorrow morning, I think I can fight for a place in the top ten. It would be nice to be able to get to Q2 »
Jack Miller: 18th – 1'34.411
« I'm relatively satisfied with my feeling with the bike, but we can see with my position in the standings that there is a way to gain a few places. It seems that when they went into attack mode, the guys took a much bigger leap forward than I did. I only gained one or two tenths with a new tire in my times on worn medium tires. My race pace is not too bad but we will have to do better in FP3 to try to slip into the top ten for Q2. I hope it's dry and we can make it »
Diego Gubellini: Chief Engineer of Tito Rabat
« We took a step forward in terms of Tito's feeling with the bike thanks to the changes we made at Silverstone to the weight distribution. We wanted to help him get more confidence on new tires and it looks like it gave us a good basis to start at Misano. We now need to review certain details because the settings we are using do not leave us much room for further adjustments. It's in any case a good way to start the weekend, and a top ten is a good way to give the driver and the team confidence for the rest of the weekend. »
