MotoGP British GP – Silverstone
Tito Rabat, rider of Team Reale Avintia Racing, ended the first day of practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 13th position, but his potential is even higher, as he showed with seventh position in the first free practice session on Friday morning. An unfortunate crash in the last minutes of the afternoon session dashed his hopes of improving further, but the Spaniard remains confident that he has the pace to make a direct move to Q2 and to be able to fight for a good grid position.
For his team-mate Xavier Simeon, the first day of practice at Silverstone was difficult. He could not significantly improve his lap times and trailed the field in the combined classification. The Belgian rider and his team are looking for a solution for Saturday, with the aim of being more competitive in qualifying and of improving the race pace for Sunday.
The weather forecast for Saturday is good, but on Sunday, rain is forecasted for the region of Towcester, so the riders have to be prepared for the possibility of a wet race.
“I was a bit worried this morning, because even though we finished in seventh position, I didn’t have a lot of confidence with the medium front tyre compound. But in the afternoon, I went out with the hard option and I felt really well. The crash towards the end of the session, when I just was at the point of speeding up and putting in a better lap time, was a bit of a shame. But all in all, we are working well and since it is going to remain dry tomorrow, we can continue to work in the same direction. We’ll grit our teeth and fight in the FP3 in order to make a direct assault on the Q2.”
“It was a very difficult day. Once again, we did well on one circuit and arriving at the next one, we are being thrown back again, far behind the front runners. I don’t understand why the feelings with the bike can be so different from one circuit to the next and to tell the truth, I was a bit frustrated today. We improved only marginally from FP1 to FP2 and I don’t feel comfortable on the bike at all. I hope we can find something tomorrow that will allow us to make a big step and to be closer to the front.”
