MotoGP GP of Germany – Sachsenring
Tito Rabat and Xavier Simeon, the riders of Team Reale Avintia Racing, had good feelings on the first day of practice for the German Grand Prix. For the first time ever, Spaniard Rabat felt comfortable on the twisty circuit that had never ever suited him before. After a fall in the morning, from which he walked away unscathed, he dusted himself off to break into the Top 15 for a while in the afternoon, before finishing the second free practice session in 15th place, less than a second behind official Ducati factory rider Jorge Lorenzo on top of the timesheets. On Saturday, Rabat hopes to be able to make another step forward and to battle for a place in the Q2.
For team-mate Xavier Simeon, the first day of practice at Sachsenring was positive as well. The Belgian rider of Team Reale Avintia Racing had a good rhythm all day long and felt comfortable aboard his Ducati, on a circuit where we always did well in previous years in the Moto2 category. Only when it got to the point of trying to improve the lap times with soft tyres, Simeon couldn’t deliver. The goal of Simeon and his crew for Saturday is therefore to find these extra tenths of a second with new tyres in order to score a better grid position for the 30-lap-race on Sunday.
“It was a bit difficult in the morning and I had a crash in turn 12. But nevertheless, things went well altogether and my feeling with the bike was much better than I expected, from the word go. In the afternoon, I went faster, I felt good on the bike. We completed lots of laps, we tried lots of things and we worked with mappings for the race. Tomorrow I expect to make another step. Together with Assen, this is usually the most difficult circuit for me, but this time, it seems that we started better. I hope we can finish better as well.”
“It was a positive day, because from the start in the morning, I was riding with a good rhythm and I felt fine and comfortable on the bike. We completed the entire session with the same set of hard tyres, and despite a crash, I went out and improved my lap time again. When we finally put the soft tyre in, I was hoping to make a leap forward, but for whatever reason, I didn’t have the grip I expected and I couldn’t improve. This is something I don’t understand. Now we have to work on this in order to improve in qualifying.”
