The long wait for a home Grand Prix came to an end today for MotoGP™ Indonesian fans as world class riders hit the track for Free Practices 1 and 2. An intense rain early this morning in Kuta, Lombok left a tricky track for the morning session, but it eventually dried up quickly with the heat, leaving the riders with good conditions for the afternoon party.
Coming back for the first time on a known track since the start of his MotoGP™ career, Raul Fernandez travelled to Indonesia full of positivity, and admitted changing his approach for the Grand Prix of Indonesia, with the aim to focus more on syncing his body with the bike, rather than changing the bike itself. With strong sectors 1 and 2, Raul finished FP1 in P13 with 1’34.676 this morning. After lunch, times went down for everyone as the track dried up, including for the rookie who improved to 1’32.557 and finished the day in P17, less than one second from the top. With a good feeling on his bike, Raul will hope to continue the work tomorrow with the target to qualify directly for Q2.
It was a positive day too for our second rookie Remy Gardner on the other side of the pit box who showed today that he could be fast on this layout, one that he already knows well after the 175 laps registered during the winter tests. The Australian rode in 1’35.186 in the first session before significantly improving in the afternoon with a best lap-time of 1’32.626, placing himself in P18 just behind his teammate. Remy tried a different bike setting today, one that he seems to be feeling confident with although it requires some adaptation. He will continue the work with his team tomorrow with high hopes of getting a good grid position for Sunday’s race. The MotoGP™ action will return on Saturday, with Free Practice 3 at 10:50 local time (GMT+8).
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Raul Fernandez
Position: 17th
Time: 1'32.557
Laps: 19
"Today was a really positive day for us because I have such a better feeling with the bike than I had in Qatar. We improved a lot firstly, but I am also approaching this Grand Prix from a different perspective as I try to focus on the way my body is moving on the bike rather than making so many changes on the bike itself, and it has been working for me so far. Tomorrow, we will have another opportunity to improve. If we continue to work like we did today, we can fight for a spot in Q2. This is our target."
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Remy Gardner
Position: 18th
Time: 1'32.626
Laps: 20
"It was very hot today here in Lombok. The track was a bit tricky this morning due to the heavy rain just before the start of the day, but in the afternoon it was better and it allowed us to push more. We changed a bit the settings of the bike, to which I need to adapt, but I think that tomorrow we can take a further step."
