The Reale Avintia Racing Team returned to work on a very productive second day of testing for the team at the Sepang International Circuit. Tito Rabat and Johann Zarco continued their respective development and evolution of their bikes at the Malaysian circuit.
Rabat completed a day of intense work testing various settings on his bike and understanding and adapting to the new Michelin tyres for this season. The Spanish rider completed a total of 51 laps and stopped the clock with a time of 2:00.189, which allowed him to improve his best Friday mark by more than half a second and place him in 20th place in the classification.
Johann Zarco continued the work of adapting to his Ducati Desmosedici GP19. The French rider has improved his feeling on the bike and has managed to ride six tenths faster than yesterday. The Frenchman completed 51 laps of the Sepang circuit, clocking a time of 1:59.825 and finishing the 19th session.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the team will face the third and final day of testing in Malaysia, where work will continue on the evolution and data collection of the Ducati.
“I’m happy because the problem I had last year with the corner entry due to lack of grip, with these new tyres has disappeared. Yesterday morning it went well, but in the afternoon after the rain I had a very bad feeling and ended up a bit worried and angry. But this morning, step by step we have worked with the used tyres and especially in the afternoon, I changed things in my riding style that made me feel better on the bike and allowed me to improve and get closer to my rivals. I’m not happy with the result, but I’m satisfied with the evolution. Tomorrow we will start from the first hour and give our best.”
“Second day has been better than yesterday. I was focused to do a lot of laps, to have a good performance and in every lap try to understand more about the bike. It’s been a good day, I could go under the 2:00’s and repeat this mark few times more, so it’s very positive. I’m learning and understanding new things about the bike to be faster, so I’m happy but a little bit tired too, because this is a hard circuit. My riding style it’s not fitting perfectly at the moment with the Ducati, that’s why I’m taking time because I can feel the potential, we have to change few things, which it’s not easy, but as soon as I can I will go faster.”
