The first Practice sessions at Gresini
Friday with decidedly opposite results for the two Gresini team riders, Alex Marquez and Michele Pirro, the latter a long-time Ducati test rider but called up by the Faenza team to replace Fermin Aldeguer, who has not yet recovered from his left femur injury. The Practice sessions at the Thai circuit of Buriram ended with the 6th fastest time set by the Spaniard, while the rider from Puglia did not go beyond 22nd and last position, but that’s not all.
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Lack of serenity
Always in the top 10 between FP1 and Practice, the brother of the reigning world champion managed to improve during the day, while admitting a certain unease: “This morning I wasn’t happy at all, then in the afternoon we found a way to improve a bit – he explained – I wasn’t sufficiently quiet and calm, also due to the weather conditions. We must continue working on the setup and I need to find a little something in terms of traction since it was among my strong points last year.”
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Last place and penalty
Excluding the single performance, Pirro will also have to serve a three-position penalty on the starting grid for Sunday’s race for having obstructed Alex Marquez himself in Practice, at turn 10, while he was on his fast lap: “I’m not satisfied because we did take a step forward compared to the test, but the track conditions and some problems with the bike didn’t allow me to lap in 1’30 which was the goal. We’ll try again tomorrow, thanks to the team who are working very hard and having a lot of patience with a 40-year-old.”
