GP OF MALAYSIA
First qualifying practice / FORTUNA APRILIA IN TOTAL
CONTROL ON FIRST DAY AT SEPANG
Fortuna Aprilia’s two riders were in dominant form
on the opening day of the 250cc Malaysian Grand Prix, which
takes place this weekend at the Sepang Circuit. Héctor
Barberá set provisional pole position with a fastest
lap of 2.08.266, just 0.138 seconds faster than his team-mate
and closest rival Jorge Lorenzo. The Fortuna Aprilia pair
were also quickest in the morning free practice as they stole
a march on their rivals on a day of intense heat and humidity.
In the first session Héctor and Jorge were unable to
break the 2.09 barrier but they shaved off almost a second
in the afternoon to close in on the circuit record, although
still some distance off the pole position record held by the
Argentinean Sebastián Porto (2.06.940). Both riders
are confident of reproducing their good form tomorrow and
in Sunday’s race.
HECTOR BARBERA, Pole Provisional (2.08.266)
”I’m really happy because we seem to have started
on the right foot and that always gives you a confidence boost.
We’ve solved a few problems we’ve had with the
rear end of the bike in recent weeks and I’m grateful
to the technical staff for that. The conditions are tough
but it’s the same for everybody. We’ve got a good
pace so I hope we can improve it tomorrow and be competitive
in the race. It looks like we’ve put some problems behind
us but I don’t want to get too excited and just take
things step by step”.
JORGE LORENZO, 2nd fastest (2.08.404)
”The conditions were really difficult today, with a
lot of heat and humidity. We went from strength to strength
though, improving quite a lot in the afternoon, although a
slight gearbox problem prevented me from going faster. We’ve
got a day to work on it and there is plenty of room for improvement.
I think I can lap a second faster and that’s the target
for tomorrow. To achieve that we’ll have to study the
telemetry and find out where I am not at 100%. I’d like
to get my ninth pole position but I’m not obsessed with
it. The most important thing tomorrow is to keep working well
and get the best race pace possible for Sunday.”
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