The Australian Grand Prix got underway this Friday at the unique setting of Phillip Island, with Estrella Galicia 0,0 riders Aron Canet and Enea Bastianini making early preparations for Sunday’s race.
As is habitual on the coast of the Tasmanian sea during the austral spring, strong winds and low temperatures were the order of the day for the Moto3 riders. During FP1 there were damp patches on the asphalt, but the sun eventually appeared in both of the two Free Practice sessions.
Canet returns to the track at which he achieved the first podium of his Grand Prix career this weekend, but it was not a completely happy reunion. He crashed in FP1 when attempting to avoid a rider on the ground at Turn 4, although he escaped unharmed. In the second session of the day, the Spaniard was initially conservative, testing different tyre compounds and occupying eleventh place with more than 20 minutes of the session remaining. In the final stages he pushed in search of a fast lap, finally achieving second place with a time of 1:37.341.
Bastianini was also full of motivation, leading FP1 16 minutes from its conclusion and eventually occupying second place in the morning session. In the afternoon he took things calmly in the search for a suitable setup. On his final lap he clocked his best time of 1:38.564, for a discreet eighteenth place.
The Estrella Galicia 0,0 pair will be back on track on Saturday at 10am local time for the third Free Practice session. The grid order for Sunday’s race will be decided in qualifying at 1:35pm local time.
ENEA BASTIANINI – “We have room for improvement”
“I felt very good from the start this morning, although our work on the setup was difficult because of the high winds and the very cold track surface. I worked with the hard tyre, so we have room for improvement. Things were difficult in the second session because the strong winds persisted, and we stuck with the hard compound. In the final stretch of the session we put on the medium compound and I improved by quite a lot, with much more grip –although I lost a little agility when turning the bike. We need to work on our setup for tomorrow, because once we improve that, we will be able to progress a lot in the standings.”
ARÓN CANET – “It’s been a very fruitful day”
“Last year we barely had a chance to ride in the dry at this circuit, so today I made the most of our dry track time from the start and it was a very fruitful day. We tested out different tyre compounds in FP2, which has made us lower our best time in that session by almost a second and a half. I’m satisfied because I think we have a good pace when riding alone, and I hope that tomorrow we will have the same good feeling in the qualifying session. This track is very fast and spectacular, although you always have to bear the wind in mind. I’ve never ridden without strong winds at this circuit, so in the end you get used to it.”
