GP Deutschland: FREAK WEATHER DURING OPENING DAY
Constantly changing weather conditions were the reason for shortened practice sessions on Friday in Germany.
Again and again, some drizzle rain and chilly temperatures has made the track’s condition at the twisty Sachsenring difficult to evaluate and furthermore to set up the bike for the 3.6 kilometres long German circuit in a proper way. Although, it’s the first time that for the still all-new Aprilia RS-GP prototype to race at the Sachsenring. An even bigger task for Bradl and his crew to prepare for Sunday’s ninth race of this season.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia), FP1: P15 – 1´25.418 (5/6) / FP2: P18 – 1´24.116 (13/15):
“This was once again an odd day. The weather has made things difficult, particularly during FP1 this morning. At the time as it started to rain, I crashed in turn 11 where many other riders crashed too. Fortunately, I escaped unhurt. Conditions improved a bit for the second session, but we started with a setting which turned out not to be effective. We made some changes to the rear of the bike in one direction but without finding any great benefits and then towards the end of the session we went back to a configuration we know better. The feeling improved, but unfortunately we ran out of time as the session was over by that time. Hopefully the forecasted better weather for tomorrow will allow us to continue working in this direction which seems to be capable of bringing good results.”
MotoGP™ Combined Free Practice Times:
1 #25 Maverick VINALES / SPA / Team SUZUKI ECSTAR / Suzuki / 1´22.161 (FP2)
2 #29 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ducati Team / Ducati / 1´22.381 +0.220 (FP2)
3 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 1´22.775 +0.614 (FP2)
18 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / 1´24.116 +1.955 (FP2)