Dalla Porta on the pace at home round: Moto3
Mugello, 2 June 2017: The Italian Grand Prix had a distinctly local feel in the Moto3 class as three home riders took the top three positions on the opening day of free practice, with Fabio di Giannantonio setting the pace at Mugello with a 1’57.328 lap that Nicolo Bulega got closest to. In third place was Mahindra Aspar Team rider Lorenzo dalla Porta, who lives just fifty kilometres from the track, with British rider John McPhee the top non-Italian in fourth place ahead of a trio of Spaniards in Joan Mir, Jorge Martín and Juanfran Guevara. Along with 24 others, the riders will be back on track tomorrow to battle for pole position.
Lorenzo dalla Porta put the Mahindra Aspar Team on the provisional front row thanks to a strong start at his home circuit, the Italian youngster stopping the clock at 1’57.618 to finish the day on a high and in third place on the combined timing sheets. Dalla Porta feels very comfortable around Mugello on the Mahindra chassis, which has adapted well to the Tuscan track, and he is confident of staying up near the front with the support of the Italian crowd. His team-mate Albert Arenas also proved to be competitive in the early stages of practice although he was unable to put together the perfect lap after switching to the softer tyres so has some work to do tomorrow before making another attempt in qualifying.
3rd Lorenzo Dalla Porta 1:57.618 (27 laps): “It is nice to have the support of family and friends here. In general it has been a good day. We are still lacking a little horsepower but the chassis is making up for it and working really well. I can set a fast lap time with the slipstream but it will be difficult to maintain that in the race with so many riders out there. We have a little work to do but in general I am happy. Tomorrow we need to keep making steps forward.”
20th Albert Arenas 1:59.362 (22 laps):“Things were going well up until the final ten minutes of the session, I was running on a race tyre, feeling comfortable and working on a set-up for Sunday. When we put the softer tyre in to attack the lap time I felt a little lost. It is hard to find the perfect lap here so I will have to learn before tomorrow and pick up a good slipstream to make sure we get a good grid position in qualifying. I’m looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.”
eom/Mahindra Aspar team release
