Saturday improvements the target for Mir and Marini
Autódromo Internacional do AlgarveTwo busy sessions opened the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend for Joan Mir and Luca Marini as they worked to adapt the Honda RC213V to the Algarve circuit.
Overnight showers left gloomy conditions and a dirty circuit as the MotoGP World Championship prepared for Friday action at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Running during Free Practice 1 would see track conditions steadily improve with more running, but clouds remained lingering overhead.
Joan Mir ended the day in 19th, half a second back on the cut off for the top ten with a best lap of 1’39.119. After a promising start in Qatar and good memories from Portugal last year, the #36 was hoping for more but believes improved track conditions will help on Saturday.
A frustrated Luca Marini is determined to right the wrongs of Friday tomorrow, the Italian suffering a fall on his final lap of the afternoon between turns seven and eight. Unharmed, Marini was unable to improve on his 1’39.781 and ended the day in 22nd.
Now a busy evening of work awaits the Repsol Honda Team as they look to put today’s data into action and make overnight improvements. Both riders and team and adamant of improvements to come for Qualifying and the Sprint.
We are working hard, and I hope that tomorrow with better conditions on track we can do more. Honestly, I was expecting more from today and we are struggling more than I thought we would. When the track grip is low I think we lose a bit more than our rivals so the aim is to close this gap tomorrow – we will get better as the grip improves. Let’s keep working and I am sure that there improvements will come.
This is a very unique track and we need to put together all the pieces of our package for it. Tomorrow we can improve, keep working and making these small steps in the setting more and more. Unfortunately, I touched the white line between seven and eight because the wind was higher than at the start of the session and it pushed me a little wide. A bit dirty and I lost the front when I grabbed the brake. It’s a shame because I was feeling strong and like I could do a good lap, I wasn’t losing anything to Bastianini in the first sectors.
