JAPANESE GP - Bautista does his homework in first practice

2018-10-19 08:24
Ángel Nieto Team rider laps seventh fastest on opening day in Japan



The 2018 Grand Prix of Japan, which represents Marc Márquez’s first opportunity to wrap up the MotoGP World Championship title, kicked off today with mixed conditions at Motegi. The opening free practice session took place under bright sunshine and with 27°C track temperature, and with rain coming for the afternoon session it decided the final positions at the end of the day. Andrea Dovizioso sits on top with a best lap of 1’45.358, with less than two tenths of a second to Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and Marc Márquez.

Álvaro Bautista did his homework on the opening day of the Grand Prix of Japan with an impressive opening session that saw him lap seventh fastest, a position he maintained when the rainy conditions came in the afternoon. It means that the Ángel Nieto Team rider is provisionally through to Q2, with FP3 still to come tomorrow morning. The Spaniard had a crash at the end of the session when he went out on a new tyre, so he knows he has even more room for improvement tomorrow. His teammate Karel Abraham had a tough opening day at Motegi, where he finished a little over two seconds off top spot. The rain hindered his plans to make some changes in the second session and he will have to make the most of all the available track time tomorrow.



7th Álvaro Bautista 1:46.210 (23 laps): “We knew that it might rain this afternoon so it was important to finish FP1 in the top ten. Even though I didn’t manage to complete a fast lap at the end, we finished up in seventh position. We had gone for a new rear tyre but the front had more than sixteen laps on it and I lost grip at the end of the straight and went down. It was a minor crash but it meant we couldn’t improve. The good thing is that I set my best lap on used tyres. This afternoon there was nothing to be gained by riding in those track conditions.”

23rd Karel Abraham 1:47.716 (30 laps): “We haven’t had a good day today. We struggled quite a bit in FP1, I felt fast and I was putting a lot of physical effort in but the lap times weren’t coming. That was a little disappointing. Then in the afternoon we had a couple of things to try but the conditions were really bad. It started wet but then a couple of corners started to dry. Towards the end of the session we decided to use slick tyres but it was dangerous because some corners were still too wet.”

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