Mugello here we are! Tech3 KTM Factory Racing was excited to come back to the iconic Mugello track for the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley, the eighth of the now twenty stops of 2022 following the postponement of the Finnish Grand Prix announced earlier this week. Friday kicked off as per usual with Free Practice 1 at 9:55 local time (GMT+2), followed by the second session in the afternoon at 14:10. It is no secret that Tech3 KTM Factory Racing is going through a challenging time, and rookies Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, together with their crews, continued their efforts to find solutions to improve the performance of the KTM RC16.
Rested and ready to hit Tuscany with a MotoGP engine, Remy Gardner reunited with his crew this morning. The strategy taken today was to try completely different settings than the usual ones in order to eventually find areas of improvements that could help the Moto2 World Champion to be faster. With a new set of slick tyres, he got his best lap time of the FP1 during his first run, in 1’48.960. Track conditions became more challenging for the afternoon session with a track temperature at 52°. The Australian split his FP2 in four runs, the fourth one being the one at the end of which he managed to get his time down to 1’47.684. He places himself twenty-third of the day and will continue his efforts tomorrow.
His teammate Raul Fernandez started his day in a similar way as his teammate, with a new set of tyres and a first session split in three runs. This side of the garage also provided different bike settings to help the Spaniard feeling better. In the morning, he rode in 1’48.911, a lap time registered in the middle of the session. After a quick consultation with his physiotherapist at lunch time to appease his hand, Raul admitted feeling better in the afternoon, but seemed to be struggling to ride fast with a soft tyre. He still managed to improve his lap time to 1’47.998. The hard work will continue tonight in the garage with the common goal to provide a better package for the rookie ahead of qualifying day.
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Remy Gardner
Position: 22nd
Time: 1'47.684
Laps: 34
"It has been a hot day here in Mugello today. I enjoyed quite a lot riding at full speed the long straight on a MotoGP bike, it was definitely the fun part of the day. We are working hard to find solutions, and we will continue to push tomorrow."
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Raul Fernandez
Position: 25th
Time: 1'47.998
Laps: 30
"During Free Practice 1, I had some issues with my hand which is stopping me from riding like I would like to. I saw the physiotherapist and felt better in FP2. When I use the soft tyres to try gaining 1 second and be faster, I can’t and end up doing similar times than when I use medium tyres. This is an issue we really need to focus on so I can have hopes to be closer to the front riders. Appart from that, the straight on this track at more than 300 km/h with the bike starting to move is unbelievable. It feels so small with a MotoGP engine."
