A beautiful, sunny day greeted the MotoGP riders for the second, important day of the championship’s second round, raising the air temperature to 24˚ C and the asphalt temperature to 43˚ C.
Both Pramac Racing Team riders took to the technical, challenging Austin circuit, determined to improve their times, along with the bikes’ settings ahead of the race.
At the end of that session, the Texan was tenth-best after lowering his best time from yesterday by over a second, advancing him directly into Q2, where he earned the 12th spot on tomorrow’s grid.
Ben Spies – Ignite Pramac Racing Team
“I’m not happy at all. We made some changes to the bike this morning and I kind of went backwards. I’m pretty disappointed, but realistically, if the bike setting would’ve been good, we only would have been one row ahead, so it doesn’t make a big difference. We need to look at some data to try to figure it out and get a good start and try to be in the top ten in the race again. I struggle a little bit in the hard braking zones, but anyway, I’m giving a 100% like always.”
Despite a good improvement in FP3, giving him a time of 2:07.749 (two seconds faster than yesterday), the Italian had to take part in Q1. He’ll start tomorrow’s race from the 13th position on the grid.
Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
“It was a busy day, and although we improved steadily during the sessions, it wasn’t enough to make it into Q2. Unfortunately, when I went into Q1, I went slower than my best time, so I didn’t get a good qualifying position. Anyway, the situation isn’t bad. I have a hard time on this track, so we have to try to solve our problems in order to improve. I’m satisfied with the team and with the work that we’re doing. I’ll give myself some more races to improve, but I hope that soon I’ll manage to take a step forward and go faster.”
Pramac Racing Team Press Release
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