At the end of the first day of testing at the Red Bull Ring, Niki Tuuli precedes Mattia Casadei and Bradley Smith in the standings. The Finn closes with the time of 1: 35: 225, detaching 6 tenths the Italian driver who gets behind Smith for just one thousandth. In the morning the third time was Mike Di Meglio who in the afternoon did not know how to improve. Good progression for Hector Garzo who moved from tenth in the morning to the fourth in the afternoon. Here their statements.
Niki Tuuli (Ajo team MotoE)
"I started the weekend on a high note, after the victory at Sachsenring. I feel good every time I go out on track with the MotoE bike. I think we have a competitive base setting for every circuit. Our plan is to be in the Top 3 in each session, and that is what we did both in the morning and in the afternoon. In FP2 we made some changes to the bike and we managed to improve our lap time by 6 tenths. I'm happy about that. Everything went as planned. Now we are going to try to find something extra for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the E-Pole session."
Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse)
“I'm very happy, the bike is good here and I have a good feeling. We were able to push both sessions. My goal for tomorrow is the front row. As soon as I tried the bike on the track, the set-up was already going well, while at the Sachsenring it wasn't like that. Here I can ride the bike as I want and that makes me very happy. "
Bradley Smith (One Energy Racing)
“Today everything went well. The most positive thing is that in terms of pace we are in shape, much better than we were at the Sachsenring. I felt very good from the first session today. In the afternoon we tested some changes on our set-up; we improved in some areas, but we struggled in others. Fortunately we have FP3 tomorrow to get back to the good feeling we had this morning and prepare for the E-Pole in the afternoon. There are other riders who are very fast, but I am convinced that we have a good enough package for the qualifying session. "
Mike Di Meglio (EG0,0 Marc VDS team)
"This morning was good and I was happy to be inside the top three. This afternoon we spent the whole session working with used tyres and my lap times were still very competitive. We need to understand which direction to take with the set-up tomorrow but I have saved one new tyre and I’m confident I can improve the lap time."
Hector Garzo (Tech3 E-Racing)
"Finally, it was a great Friday for me. Free Practice one was a bit crazy for me, because I was on this track for the first time, so I used FP1 to learn all the corners, to find out where it’s most difficult and to improve. It was not easy, but at the end it was good, because the first session helped me to feel confident enough for FP1 and in the end, we arrived the time, we aimed for. We are really close to the second position. As this was the first day, I’m really happy. Tomorrow is another day and for sure, it will be better. Our team did a great job between the two practices today and I’m truly satisfied with this Friday."
