Category: MotoGP

FIRST DAY OF THE SECOND TEST IN QATAR FOR AVINTIA ESPONSORAMA RACING TEAM RIDERS

Avintia Esponsorama Racing Team rider Enea Bastiani was the best Shakedown debutant, last week in Qatar. The Italian rider and current Moto2 world champion blew up his Ducati on the Qatari track. His partner Luca Marini also adapts to the bike achieving positive results and good sensations. Today after two days of rest have returned to action Enea Bastianini has completed a total of 44 laps registering his best time at 1:54,738. Luca Marini (Sky Vr46 Avintia Team) has made a total of 54 laps marking its best time at 1:55,328

#23 ENEA BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama Racing Team – 1:54,738

“Today I feel much more relaxed than in the past tests. We have made modifications to the bike and tried to find more stability by moving one step further. Today I can’t complain, tomorrow we will work on the pace, today was not bad at all and especially in the time attack that costs me more with new tires, there is a lot of grip and I have to understand how to make the rear tyre to work better. Tomorrow I will try to make more laps, and if possible, we will do a race simulation, in this way I will also test my physical form”.

# 10 LUCA MARINI – Sky Vr46 Avintia Team   – 1:55,328
“I am Happy, we have done a good job on the set up and the feelings are positive. I make a lot of laps with used tyres and I did a 10-laps long run at the end of the day for understanding the tyres drop and learn how to manage it with electronics. I feel better on the bike, also in terms of position, I started to feel then tyres and tomorrow we have scheduled a race simulation. I must work to be able to turn the bike as I want, check the rear tyre and from tomorrow we will have all data of the long run to analyse. The lap time is not bad, I expected a bigger gap from the top riders, and the pace is good”.

THE TWO RIDERS OF THE AVINTIA ESPONSORAMA RACING TEAM FINISH THE TEST WITH GOOD TIMES AND POSITIVE SENSATIONS.

In this last day the riders of the Avintia Esponsorama Racing Team have ended with very positive sensations looking the upcoming test on the Losail circuit. Enea Bastianini has made 45 laps marking his best time at 1.55″48.   Luca Marini (Sky Vr46 Avintia Team) made 48 laps marking his best time at 1.55″605.

#23 ENEA BASTIANINI – 1´55.48

“I’ve ride more smoothly and relaxed as with this bike you can’t ride aggressively. I finally got a good time in the middle of the section. We have started working with electronics and set up, the result of these three days is very positive. As a goal for the next Test certainly improve gradually to get in the best conditions to the two races”.

# 10 LUCA MARINI  ( Sky Vr46 Avintia ) – 1,55.60
“Of the three, today is definitely the day I enjoyed the most. I was able to ride more easily, I made a good step forward on the setting and a great job in the garage. I have done a lot on my riding style in braking and now I am closer to the other Ducati guys. In these days before the second testing session, we will check the data to understand in which area to focus and further evolve my style. The riding position is better, I can do more laps and keep a good pace. I am doing a lot in terms of electronics; I have more confidence on the front too and I have pushed more on the tires that are really very different from Dunlop. We have to work on many details to be 100%, but we can think of a race simulation in the next session”.

THE MOTOGP RIDERS OF THE AVINTIA ESPONSORAMA RACING TEAM DEBUT ON THE LOSAIL CIRCUIT WITH VERY POSITIVE RESULTS.

The Losail Circuit located in Doha City, Qatar has a length of 5,380m, with 16 curves (6 left and 10 to right) is one of the most significant circuits on the calendar. It has a lighting system that allows to ride at night being the Qatar GP the only one with these special conditions of artificial lighting. This first day reserved for rookies in the category has been very positive for both riders who have ride for the first time with their Ducati.

# 10 – LUCA MARINI – SKY VR46 AVINTIA TEAM
What an incredible power: I was expecting it, but it was so special the first exit. I did a few good laps, focusing only on my riding style to gain confidence. The braking has surprised me, I’m not completely comfortable because with the carbon disc it’s different and I definitely have to work on my style. Today I was able to improve the position on the bike by working on the details of the tank, the handlebars and the seat. Ducati is big, but I’m very tall. I’m not very happy with the lap time, but tomorrow we can make a step. A busy day, but physically I feel fine.

#23 ENEA BASTIANINI – AVINTIA ESPONSORAMA RACING 

“I am very satisfied, I have had a lot of fun, I expected the bike to be very fast but not so much. I am very surprised by the change of gear and the braking of the bike, I am very happy it has been a very positive experience. I can’t wait till tomorrow to ride again. I have needed my time to adapt to the bike as the lines change a lot because I have more power. In short we need to work more on electronics although it is still early. Thank the whole team for the great work done “.

RUBEN XAUS – TEAM MANAGER 

“Today was the day of the debut on track for our double Team: Esponsorama Avintia and Sky VR46 Avintia with Enea and Luca. Two very young riders, both rookies, a World Champion and a title contender. I’m happy, it was the first time they were able to try the bike, a very powerful MotoGP prototype with lots of details to fix. The track was not perfect, dirty and a really wind day. The feelings were positive, however, they have started to know the bike and both managed to stay under the wall of two minutes on the flying lap. Tomorrow there will be many other riders on the track, not just the rookies, and we will have more references. Enea and Luca are fast, they have similar mentalities and they want to show their best. We are a small team, but at the same time with a lot of experience on Ducati. I hope to achieve a lot of good results in this season also thanks to the support of all our partners as Avintia and Nascor, Usus, Pata.

Esponsorama Racing has finished the seventh race of the season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

After yesterday’s qualifying session, Johann Zarco started in 14th position. The French rider was able to score 5 important points by crossing the finish line 11th after fighting all race to enter to the Top-10.

Tito Rabat, who started 20th, could not finish the race due to a crash. The Spanish rider lost control of his Ducati Desmosedici GP19 in turn 6 with 15 laps to go and was forced to retire.

Next week, at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, the Catalan Grand Prix will take place, where Esponsorama Racing will have a new opportunity to continue working and return to the positions where the team deserves to be.

“One race more finished, although it has been a difficult situation to handle. The choice of the rear tire was crucial, we chose an option thinking that it would give us some advantage from the second half of the race but this has not been the case. The pace has been very constant but a bit slow compared to the Top-10. Looking forward to Barcelona to continue improving.”

“From today’s crash we will look on the bright side as always. Our fastest race lap was only one tenth slower than my teammate’s. The track conditions today were very strange and we still had a 1.33 pace. The crash was the result of trying to follow the group in front, as I was forcing it closed from the front and I crashed. Now we have our sights set on next week’s home race.”

Esponsorama Racing is back in action this Friday for the first two free practices of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

During the morning session, both riders were able to get back to the feelings of the Italian track. Johann Zarco finished 8th with a competitive time of 1’32.170. Tito Rabat continued to add laps and with a best time of 1’33.496, he finished 21st.

In the second free practice, Johann Zarco has managed to improve his morning time by a tenth. The Frenchman finished the day in 8th position. For his part, Tito Rabat has taken an important step forward, being half a second faster than in the morning and managing to go down to 1’32.

Tomorrow the third and fourth free practices and the qualifying of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will take place, where Esponsorama Racing will fight to get the best possible starting position for Sunday.

“I have had a good day, this morning, I went fast from the first moment, although everyone has gone very fast since FP1. We have worked with the medium rear tire, and we are being more competitive with tire than last week, this is good for the race. I had a small crash in the afternoon, when my first lap launched with the soft tire started, it closed from the front on turn 2. Despite not having a wings on the left, I felt I had to continue because there were only 5 minutes left and that was the good tire. I could improve my lap time and stay on the Top-10.”

“It’s been a pretty positive day, our fast lap is 1.32.7 a step forward given by having turned 32 today. Tomorrow we will try to take another step forward, today we have finished with positive feelings and continue working as before.”

Esponsorama Racing will dispute this weekend the second consecutive race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the seventh race of the season for the category.

After a positive San Marino Grand Prix and the good feelings after completing the test at Misano last Tuesday, Esponsorama Racing faces a new weekend of competition with optimism of obtaining a good result.

Johann Zarco, who finished 15th last Sunday, will have another chance to keep adding points and get a good result that will bring him closer to the top of the standings.

Despite his crash in the San Marino Grand Prix race, Tito Rabat managed to take a considerable step forward. The Spanish rider wants to confirm the good feelings and return to the points zone to continue recovering his confidence.

On Friday at 9:55 Esponsorama Racing will be back in action for the first free practice of the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna.

“It is good to repeat this weekend on the same circuit. We had a test on Tuesday that was very important, because we had more time to try some different set-ups, also, try even more things, I improve my best lap time, and this is positive to start the weekend. Last race I had some problems at the end of the race, and for this weekend, the target is to feel more comfortable to finish the next race better, instead of lose positions, gain positions, and I hope to finish in a Top-10.”

“We start this weekend after a day of test, in which we were harmed by the choice of tire since we were convinced that the rear soft tire would go well but the track changed a lot and the wear was very large. Despite this, we were able to get many positive things out of the things we tried. In view of this second race, I’m satisfied if I can stay with the group during the race and improve over the previous weekend.”

Esponsorama Racing took part in today’s Misano test at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli where Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat finished 3rd and 18th respectively in the combined results.

Despite Zarco’s crash and a technical problem on the Rabat bike during the last moments of the day, Esponsorama Racing was able to finish an effective day for the team managing to accumulate a large number of laps and mileage to continue working on the development and evolution of the Ducati Desmosedici GP19.

During the morning session, Johann Zarco was able to complete 57 laps of the Italian track, achieving a best time of 1’32.445. In the afternoon, accumulating 39 more laps, the French rider reduced his time to 1’31.899, which allowed him to finish the test in 3rd position.

On his part, Tito Rabat added a total of 71 laps at the end of the day. The Spanish rider stopped the clock with a best time of 1’33.308, finishing in 18th position in the combined results.

“I am happy with today in general, I did not expect to do so many laps. In the afternoon, the plan was to do a few runs and stop, but since we had things to test and the feeling was really good that we decided to do it. Every time we went out on the track I felt good with the bike, I felt comfortable and this is very positive. Happy with the test, very happy with the fastest lap, it was impressive to get down from 1.32, and it is a good sign for the weekend.”

“It has been a day where I have been able to test a lot of things, despite having a problem from the beginning with the rear soft tyre. Both in the morning and in the afternoon the tyre broke very quickly, after five laps the tyre was completely destroyed. This has affected the work plan a bit, but in the end when we were going to set the soft tyre again we broke the engine, and we did not have a spare in this test, so we could not test more things. We now have two days off before a new weekend.”

Esponsorama Racing has concluded the San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Johann Zarco was 15th and Tito Rabat could not finish the race.

After showing a promising pace during the free pratices sessions and in the qualifying, Johann Zarco has started 10th. Despite making a good start and having a good pace, in the final laps of the race the French rider was unable to maintain his position due to the loss of grip from his rear tire and finally crossed the finish line 15th, getting one more point.

Tito Rabat has had a difficult race start. The Spanish rider lost several positions during the first few laps and with five laps to go, he suffered a crash in turn 9 which forced him to retire of the race. Despite this, Rabat has completed a good weekend, showing a good pace and taking a step forward to face the following races with extra confidence.

Next week, at the same Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Esponsorama Racing will have a new opportunity to continue working and return to the positions the team deserves.

“I think the positive part of this race, seeing the result (P15) and 20 seconds away from the winner, far from the top of the race, is that I got a lot of positive things from the start. The step we took this morning in the warm up has helped me a lot in this start of the race to follow Dovizioso and Bagnaia. The start was good for me, but as the laps went by I suffered a lot with the rear tire, especially the last seven laps, I couldn’t keep the pace and I lost a lot”.

“I think that this weekend I have taken steps forward, in terms of the fastest lap, the race pace and the first laps of this. My fastest lap in the race was similar to that of my teammate, as well as the pace, which was very even for both. Now we have to stay focused, arrive rested for the test on Tuesday and the following weekend and give 100% of myself”.

Espononsorama Racing completed the qualifying session for the San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli with Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat in 10th and 17th position respectively.

Thanks to good free practices, Johann Zarco has been able to directly access Q2. Despite a small crash during FP4, the team has done a great job in getting the bike ready for qualifying. The French rider scored a 1’32.218, a time that allowed him to finish in a worked TOP-10.

Tito Rabat despite taking a step forward in the qualifying has not managed to overcome the cut of Q1. In his last attempt, the Spanish rider made a mistake in the first corner after losing control of the rear of his Ducati and, as a result, was unable to improve his final time of 1’32.791.

Tomorrow at 14:00 the San Marino Grand Prix race will start, where Esponosorama Racing will fight from the first lap to keep scoring important points for the championship.

“I want to be on the top 6, because be on the two first rows are very important for the race, but I had a freaky afternoon. During the FP4, first I had a technic problem, and then I had a crash ant it was a problem because this was the bike with I had to do the qualifying. The team did an amazing job because they change a lot of things in a short time and the bike was ready to the qualifying. It was very import because a top10 is better than a last position. I think I could be fighting for the top8 with the group in tomorrow’s race”

“It was a good day, in FP4 I really enjoyed myself, I understood things about the bike. In qualifying, in the second start, I was overconfident with the rear wheel. I think it’s not a problem with the tire, but if we find the solution it will help me to have feeling in the first laps of the race and to have a good race”.