Reale Avintia Academy 77 – GP of Austria – Spielberg
Vicente Pérez made an impressive debut at the first day of practice on the Red Bull-Ring at Spielberg. In his third race as a rider of Team Reale Avintia Academy 77, the 20-year-old from Valencia approached the unknown circuit in a calm way during the morning session and ended up in 24th position, with a gap of 1.6 seconds to the fastest man on the track. But in the afternoon, he made a giant leap forward and he was several times within the top group of riders, even though several of his lap times were cancelled because he exceeded the track limits. For a brief moment, he was as high up as third in the classification, but then this lap was cancelled as well and he finished the day in 20th place.
Nevertheless, rider and team were in good spirits after this assault on the front positions. They hope to be able to improve further on Saturday so they can fight for a good grid position for the 23-lap-race on Sunday.
“It was a super-positive day for me because I was pretty fast even though I was riding by myself most of the time. I even clocked the third-fastest time in the FP2 in the afternoon, but then this lap time was cancelled because I was skimming along outside the track limit just a little bit and in the end I was only 20th. It was a shame, but I’m happy nevertheless because I did my times all by myself and I really think we can be competitive on this track. Step by step and with consistent work, we are getting closer to the top. I want to thank the team, my manager and everybody who supports me so I can continue to grow as a rider!”
