Only a couple of months after our last visit, the Circuit of the Americas welcomed back the MotoGP action on Friday for the first day of the weekend, combining FP1 and FP2. Following the resurfacing work done over the last couple of months to try to get rid of the numerous bumps on the track, both Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez were able to witness the evolution, at the same time as discovering the American rodeo on their KTM RC16. It was a positive Day 1 overall for the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing after both riders were able to register progress as the day went by. Tomorrow, the target will be set on qualifying, a session that both rookies are looking to improve in order to start from better positions.
Happy to be back at the Circuit of the Americas and hoping to forget about his crash from last season in Moto2, Australian Remy Gardner started the first session strongly, making appearances within the Top 15 during the first half. During his second run, he was able to register 2.05.967, before signing off his best lap-time during the third and final run in 2.05.672 with new tyres. Remy’s crew seems to be shifting towards similar bike's settings than the ones used by factory rider Brad Binder, a direction the Moto2 World champion admitted finding positive. In the afternoon, he continued to improve (2’04.535), and finished the day in P20. Tomorrow, he will aim to get more laps in with these settings he seems to enjoy, with high hopes to improve his qualifying.
Winner of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in Moto2 last year, the MotoGP adventure was always going to be a different one for Raul Fernandez, only competing in his fourth race in the class this season. When Free Practice 1 started at 09:55 local time (GMT-5), the rookie was able to be fast quickly and made appearances within the Top 15, just like his teammate. During his second run, he registered 2’05.326, only 0.343 behind the KTM RC16 from Brad Binder, and was first of the rookies this morning. In the afternoon, he managed to improve even more his time (2’04.770), but so did everyone else, leaving him in P23 at the end of the combined FP1 and FP2. Tomorrow, Raul will continue his efforts when the action resumes, at 9:55 (GMT-5) with Free Practice 3.
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Remy Gardner
Position: 20th
Time: 2'04.535
Laps: 28
"Today was a good day. We are starting to take similar directions than what Brad Binder is using. Of course, everytime we make a change, we need to compensate with the front, but I believe that we are going in the right direction, so I am hoping to take another step further tomorrow in FP3."
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Raul Fernandez
Position: 23rd
Time: 2'04.770
Laps: 19
"The first day was positive and I had a good pace, which is the most important. However, when we tried to do a fast lap to prepare for tomorrow in order to get a good grid position, the bike was moving too much on the front, so we need to try to understand the reasons and correct this for tomorrow, otherwise it will be difficult to get a good position. We know that we need to target the middle of the grid to be able to score points."
