Today’s first day of practice for the British Grand Prix saw some typical English weather. In the sky there were clouds, just a little sunshine but no rain despite the weather forecast! In the morning session Andrea Dovizioso showed that he would be a force to be reckoned with, having a good pace with the leaders and ending the session in fourth place. In the afternoon the JiR Team Scot rider worked hard on tyre choice, testing all the various materials that Michelin brought for him, as he prepared for the practice and qualifying sessions of tomorrow. The final position in the afternoon does not show Andrea’s potential and both team and rider are confident to find the right pace for the race.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Director JiR Team Scot“This was our first important day in the UK to understand which direction will work for us to be competitive for tomorrow and Sunday. Lap times in the morning were very good and the team did some very important work to find the solutions to give a constant pace to put Andrea in the position to be very competitive. Now it will be very important to analyse the data recorded today, to allow us to put Andrea in the position to be strong for tomorrow and the race.”
Andrea Dovizioso – Rider JiR Team Scot MotoGPHONDA RC212V – 13th: 1’29”722“Obviously I’m not satisfied with the final position but I am optimistic because with hard work we’ll go quicker tomorrow and we obviously can do a better pace in race configuration and I do think that we can find all the solutions we need to be competitive. We did a good lap time in the morning and in the afternoon our approach was different as we looked at the right tyre choice to make between the Michelin material I had at my disposal. We also tried something in case the weather conditions would change. It is also necessary to find the right balance of the bike and to find rear stability and get the bike efficient in corner speed. I have also to work on the overall rhythm, as the layout of racetrack is very particular, with part of the track fast and another part very narrow and start/stop which breaks the rhythm a little.”
Gianni Berti – Technical Co-ordinator JiR Team Scot“The whole day has been focussed on the race and the choice of the tyre for the race. We want to test the different solutions that Michelin bring here for us and make our decision in order to be ready with the right set-up tomorrow. Weather conditions were a little strange today, with a big difference in temperature, which makes the tyres work in a different way. The target is to be consistent in our pace and this will be the target of tomorrow’s work, followed by some final tuning.”
