Solid start in Aragon for Bendsneyder and Biesiekirski
The Aragon Grand Prix, on the Motorland circuit, has started well for the riders of NTS RW Racing GP. Bo Bendsneyder and Piotr Biesiekirski laid a solid foundation with 16th and 29th place respectively.
The day started a little later than planned due to the low temperatures in this part of Spain at this time of the year. With an air temperature of only 12 degrees Celsius, it was downright cold in the first free practice for Moto2. In the second session the temperature had risen to 16 degrees and that was also reflected in the lap times.
Bendsneyder in particular made considerable progress in the afternoon session, both in lap times and in his position, by climbing from 21st in FP1 to 16th in FP2. The progress of Biesiekirski was mainly considering lap times, taking one second off his previous fastest time and making the gap to the top almost half a second smaller. As far as position is concerned, he remained in the same place: 29th, with one rider behind.
Bendsneyder closed the day with a time of 1.53.801. 1.56.022 was the fastest time for Biesiekirski.
Bo Bendsneyder: “We can look back on a good first day. In FP1 the feeling was certainly not bad. We had made an adjustment to the clip-ons on the handlebars beforehand, but that didn’t turn out well. With the knowledge what the problem was, we knew there was more to it. We changed that for FP2 and that allowed me to take a good step right away. After the first run, we made another adjustment to the front, which also worked out well. Without putting in new tires I was able to make a long run, in which I had my best time on the last lap. That is important and very positive. For tomorrow we have to make sure that I can also go a little faster with new tires and that I can also take the step to the top 14.”
Piotr Biesiekirski: “In both sessions I needed a few laps to warm-up my shoulder, that is still a bit stiff after the crash last week, but eventually I felt more and more comfortable with every lap. I was able to improve my times quite a bit, especially after putting my preferred hard front tyre halfway into the second session. The bike is working really well and I just have to focus on improving my riding and adjusting it to the track and the bike. The team told me to be careful in the second corner due to the low temperatures and high winds which caught a lot of riders out today and I was, but looks like it wasn’t enough. I had a small crash, so apologies to the team. Anyway we’re feeling quite good and look forward to tomorrow.”