GP Japan: AGAIN A POSITIVE START TO THE WEEKEND
After little start-up issues, Stefan Bradl got better and better to show an impressive speed during Friday’s first free practice sessions.
Round 15 got underway under bright skies and decent temperatures. Due to this pleasant conditions teams and riders were able to start their preparations in respect to set up machinery for the challenging Twin Ring Motegi in full manner. Stefan Bradl and his Aprilia RS-GP prototype arrived with a good base setting which was improved step by step to conclude Friday with eleventh fastest lap time. To qualify for Q2 now is the clearly target for Saturday.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia), FP1: P13 – 1´47.426 (7/17) / FP2: P11 – 1´46.367 (17/18):
“This was really a good start to the weekend. I fast straight away during both sessions. But first we had to overcome some small uncertainties this morning though we could solve it quickly. FP this afternoon went smooth at all, it was truly a pleasant one. Our base setting proved to be good and we were able to build on this level to make further steps steadily. Obviously we must fine-tune on both the setup and the electronics in order to keep our performance during the race on a consistent level. In this regard we need the bike’s support. Hopefully we can continue in this way tomorrow too. But so far I’m quite happy how things went today.”
MotoGP™ Combined Free Practice Times:
1 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 1´45.151 (FP2)
2 #4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA / Ducati Team / Ducati / 1´45.204 +0.053 (FP2)
3 #25 Maverick VINALES / SPA / Team SUZUKI ECSTAR / Suzuki / 1´45.248 +0.097 (FP2)
11 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / 1´46.367 +1.216 (FP2)