BAUTISTA TARGETS Q2 SPOT IN FRANCE

2018-05-18 20:00
Angel Nieto Team rider closes the first day 9 tenths off the top spot and 3 tenths outside the Top 10. Karel Abraham places 20th
The French GP action got underway even before the riders had taken to the track, as three announced contract renewals through to 2020. With the announcements, half the grid is already confirmed for the next two seasons before the fifth race of the year. On the combined timesheet from FP1 and FP2, Andrea Dovizioso's 1:31.936 lap was the fastest lap at the French track. Behind him, Marc Márquez and Valentino Rossi closed the top three, and up to sixteen riders finished less than a second behind the leader.

Ángel Nieto Team rider Álvaro Bautista aims to get into Q2 tomorrow, either by placing among the top ten in the third free practice or being one of the top two in Q1. He feels confident after an improved feeling that has continued since the Saturday of the Spanish Grand Prix through the subsequent test at the Jerez track. Today he was 3 tenths outside the top 10 and 9 off the pacesetter. Teammate Karel Abraham finished twentieth. The Czech rider will continue working tomorrow to improve his race pace and be able to fight for a good result at Le Mans.

16th Álvaro Bautista 1:32.851 (41 laps): "My feeling with the bike is good, although it is not reflected in the position we took today: I am sixteenth but I am less than 3 tenths off the top 10 and 9 tenths off the fastest rider. Everything is very tight, but it has been a positive day: we tested some modifications that we made to the bike at the Jerez test and we did not notice much difference. I feel good on the bike, which I think is ultimately what matters. I am liking it more all the time. Tomorrow morning the track will be delicate and cold, so it might be hard to improve my time in FP3, although I think it is feasible to enter directly into Q2 because we are only 3 tenths from the cut-offtime. If not, we will try in the afternoon, but that is our goal: To try to enter the top twelve for the GRID."

22nd Karel Abraham 1:33.942 (36 laps): "It seems that we are getting close to finding a good pace, but we are not where we want to be yet. I also had my best lap scrubbed for exceeding the limits of the track, and that was when I had lowered my time by half a second. Anyway, even with that time, we would still need to go faster. We have to keep working hard to get a better result for tomorrow."

Source: Angel Nieto Team

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