Enea Bastianini and Aron Canet rounded off their third night of official testing at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday, bringing to an end the Moto3 preseason action for 2017. However, the weather conditions again caused problems for the Estrella Galicia 0,0 pair, hand the wind and rain prevented them from even going out on track.
The Sunday sessions began with heavy gusts of win that reached 30km/h. Some riders chose to put in laps, although none were able to best the times set the previous evening. The conditions failed to improved, and the appearance of rain in the third session led to a red flag and the premature conclusion of testing.
Although this season it will be possible for the MotoGP class to ride in wet conditions at Losail, the single tyre manufacturer for Moto2 and Moto3 does not allow for this possibility -due to the absence of specific rubber for such circumstances.
Arón Canet was thus unable to run the race simulation that he had wanted, after consistently placing amongst the top riders on Saturday. His best time from the test was a 2:06.749 lap, just 0.059 off Romano Fenati’s top time.
Enea Bastianini used the downtime in Qatar to get further acquainted with his crew, and his 2:08.713 time put him low on the timesheets -although he had been working mostly on finding a good suspension setup rather than putting in a hot lap.
The Estrella Galicia 0,0 team will be back in action on Thursday, March 23rd, at the Losail International Circuit, for the opening Free Practice session for the Qatar Grand Prix.
ENEA BASTIANINI
“Today the conditions were not the best for testing anything”
“Today was a day of zero testing, because there were strong gusts of wind and we decided not to go out on track in order to avoid taking risks. We had a fairly complete work plan to complete today, but the conditions were not the best for testing anything. We were only able to ride yesterday, so we hope that on Thursday next week the weather will be favourable for working at our best in the first Free Practice sessions for the Qatar GP -in order to keep progressing with my crew and face the first race in the best possible shape.”
ARÓN CANET
We have worked hard throughout the preseason”
“We couldn’t do anything today because we were unable to ride at any time. We didn’t want to take risks because in the first session there was very little grip on track. In the evening and at night there was a lot of wind, so we decided not to go out. I think we are prepared because we have worked very well throughout the preseason, so we hope to do the same here ar the first GP of the season.”