The opening free practice day for the Aragon Grand Prix was disrupted by rain, with showers hitting the track just before both 45 minutes practice sessions, leaving the tarmac in mixed conditions. It was certainly not the ideal scenario to get the maximum from the Michelin wet tyres. With the track drying out very quick, the tyres overheated. As a consequence, Reale Avintia Racing riders Loris Baz and Hector Barbera finished way back in the classification.
With dry weather forecasted for the rest of the weekend, today was also not the day to take unnecessary risks. Tomorrow, both Hector and Loris will be in full attack mode with their goal to fight for a top ten result and get through to Q2. If this it not possible, they will have another chance in Q1 to improve their pace and battle for the best possible grid position for the race on Sunday.
“It was a strange day because it seemed that it wouldn’t rain, but just five minutes before both session it started to drizzle anyway. In the morning I didn’t complete many laps and, although this afternoon I spent more time on the bike, the feeling on the wet was far from the one I had in Misano. In addition, when the track started to dry out ,the tyres overheated and I was not able to go faster. But to be honest, since we knew that the forecast for the rest of the weekend is dry, we didn’t take any risks. I just lapped around to get some information for the last few races of the season. Tomorrow we’ll just have one session to get in Q2, and I’ll give my best to achieve it. FP3 will be like a qualifying session, and we’ll see how the bike works and what we can get.”
“Today was a difficult day. Usually we go fast in Aragon, but nothing worked as we expected. The track was not fully wet and our bike works better when the track is completely wet. I’ve also used a very stiff swingarm and I also tried a lot of changes on the bike, but with a dry line and not too much grip, nothing we tried really worked. We spent the day testing different solutions and trying to find the way for the next races. Tomorrow will be dry, so we’ll see what happens. At the Spanish races we always give the maximum and I would love get a good result to celebrate with my fans. I also want to do my best in the last races with my team.”
