The first day of free practice at the Portimao circuit (Portugal) saw a noticeable improvement for both the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team riders, who managed to improve in the afternoon their times set in Fp1.
- FP1
P6 – Scott Redding tries to push hard in the first run with the new tyre and sets a good lap time. In the second part of the session, the English rider focuses on the setup without changing tyre.
P13 – Difficult session for Michael Rinaldi who is unable to find the right feeling especially in the third and fourth sector where he loses precious tenths.
- FP1 Results
P1 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’41.542
P2 – G. Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.141
P3 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) +0.161
P4 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) +0.207
P5 – L. Baz (Ducati) +0.218
P6 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.477
P13 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.437
- FP2
P7 – Scott Redding‘s feeling with his Ducati Panigale V4R seems to improve in the afternoon, although the higher temperatures don’t allow him to gain many positions compared to FP1.
P8 – Michael Rinaldi‘s progress is tangible. The Italian rider works hard on the setup with his team and manages to improve his lap time by almost a second thanks to a very incisive T4.
- Combined Standings
P1 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’41.466
P2 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) +0.191
P3 – G. Gerloff (Yamaha) +0.217
P4 – L. Haslam (Honda) +0.250
P5 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) +0.283
P7 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.520
P8 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.633
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“We worked on different fronts this morning, without ever changing the tyre, also to get confident with the new asphalt. In the afternoon I struggled a bit with the new hard tyre and lost a little confidence. The wind was quite strong and that is always an extra obstacle for me. At the end, though, I have to say that the feeling was pretty good. We need to work on a couple of details but the gap to the front group is really small”.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“All things considered, today was a quite positive day for us and we tried a lot of solutions. This morning the feeling wasn’t so good but this afternoon we made some progress. We’re are not at our 100% yet, we still have a lot of work to do to fight for the positions that count, but I’m satisfied with the progress made between FP1 and FP2”.
