QUALIFYING: FIFTH AND EIGHT ROW FOR THE LIGHTECH SPEEDUP TEAM
The LighTech SpeedUp riders returned to the track today to determine their position on the starting grid for the Grand Prix of Portugal, which will be held exclusively tomorrow at 2.30pm local time.
Even today, rain and wind conditioned the last free practice session in the morning. Aldeguer found the feeling in the wet and with the penultimate lap of 11 he set the second best time in FP3, and third in the combined classifying in 2’00.990, earning Q2. Team 54 dealt with the dry track for the first time during final qualifying, finishing with the time 1’45.304. Fermin will therefore start from the fifth row in fifteenth position.
Romano was unable to lower the time set during FP1, finishing free practice in p25 with a time of 2’03.098. At the start of qualifying 1 the track was dry with sections that were still wet, once again complicating the driving conditions. In the fifteen minutes available, Fenati completed 7 laps, stopping his time at 1’46.787. P24 and eighth row in tomorrow’s grid for team number 5.
FERMÍN ALDEGUER #54: 15th in 1’45.304
“Happy with how this second day went. This morning I found myself very well in the wet, I finally found the sensations I needed by closing FP3 in second position. It’s true that qualifying didn’t go as we hoped, but we still got positive results in the dry. Let’s hope that the weather will stabilize and nothing, ready for the race!”.
ROMANO FENATI #5: 24th in 1’46.787
“Unfortunately, today were difficult conditions. In qualifying we had never lapped in dry conditions and we found ourselves in difficulty especially because there were still wet parts on the track. We tried to do our best but we couldn’t reach the result we hoped for. For tomorrow we will try to solve some problems on the set-up of the bike before the race and then fight to the end!”.
ALGARVE WEATHER AFFECTS THE FIRST DAY OF PORTUGUESE GP FREE PRACTICES
The Grande Prémio de Portugal has begun at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, the first round of the Moto2 World Championship in Europe and the fifth of the 2022 season.
The weather affected both free practice sessions of the first day with wind and pouring rain. Few riders on track during FP1 in the morning when Romano took five laps, closing the session with the ninth fastest time in 2’10.009, while Aldeguer completed only three laps, finishing the FP1 in eighth position, 2’07.986 his time.
Extreme conditions also in the second free practice session in which wind and light rain put a strain on the LighTech SpeedUp riders. Positive feedback for team 5 which with a slight change made great strides. 2’03.098 Romano’s best time at the end of the day who with more determination and confidence on the Boscoscuro bike took fifteenth place, a step away from the provisional Q2.
Aldeguer’s FP2 ended after a few laps due to a crash at turn 1. Fortunately, he was unharmed, but no chance for him to return to the track due to too much damage to the bike. 2’04.721 his best time and p23 in the combined standings.
ROMANO FENATI #5: 16th
“First positive day for us despite the difficult track conditions. The sensations with the bike improved from FP1 to FP2 as did our lap time. We have to work on the rear grip, but we are especially confident with the progress achieved today!”.
FERMÍN ALDEGUER #54: 23rd
“First day complicated due to track conditions. In FP1 it was raining very hard and we decided not to go beyond the few laps we did so as not to take risks. In the afternoon we thought that conditions would improve and that with less rain we could ride better, but the track was still very treacherous and halfway through a crash put an end to our day. We hope that the weather will be better tomorrow so that we can take full advantage of the third free practice!”.
