Reale Avintia Racing riders, Hector Barbera and Loris Baz, completed the first day of practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. This first day of action took place in surprisingly warm and sunny conditions in both the free practice sessions of 45 minutes, unlike the expectations of the English weather.
Loris Baz worked hard to improve his feelings with the bike in the morning, and in the afternoon he finished in 15th place overall. The French Reale Avintia Racing rider is confident of making more progress tomorrow and to be able to fight for Q2, something he already achieved in the last two races.
The first day at Silverstone was not as easy for Hector Barbera. The Spaniard struggled in the morning to find a fast pace and together with his team he decided to go back to the set-up he used in Barcelona. The result was visible immediately and he improved his lap times, but not enough, so tomorrow he wants to keep working in the same direction and try to get the best possible grid position for Sunday’s race.
“I love Silverstone, but at the same time it is a difficult track. It is very bumpy and you have to be extra confident with the bike to go fast. This morning was tough, but we improved a lot in the second practice and I finished close to the top ten. It is a long circuit and everything is really tight. I missed the top ten by just three tenths. Let’s see if we can improve the bike tomorrow. It won’t be easy as this track features several long corners and this is where we suffer the most. We will start the day with the goal of Q2 and then we will see if we can do it.”
“It was a difficult first day. This is a circuit where I usually struggle to be fast, and we also used a wrong set-up in the morning. In the last two races we changed the settings to help me to change my riding style, but the results were worse than in the previous races, so we decided to go back to the set-up of Barcelona, where I felt comfortable riding the bike. It worked immediately and my feeling was much better. I was also faster than in the morning and I was able to get more feedback from the bike. But we need more time. I’m confident that we can improve the pace tomorrow and that we will be more competitive on Sunday.”
