Hector Barbera makes a positive start in the wet at Austin

Positive start for the Avintia Racing team in the first free practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas.

In the morning Hector Barbera and teammate Mike Di Meglio had the first chance to try their Ducatis in wet conditions and both had quite good feelings. In the afternoon the track dried out during the last few minutes and both riders went out with the top ten as a target to get a place in Saturday’s Q2.

Barbera eventually crashed in his final time attack and he finished the day 18th and fourth in the Open class fight.

The forecast for Saturday in Austin brings more rain, so the Avintia Racing will work hard to get the best possible wet set up in their Ducati Desmosedici GP14.1 Open.

HÉCTOR BARBERÁ #8 / 18º 2’07.581 @HectorBarbera
It was a strange day. In the morning we tested some things on the wet but my feeing was not perfect, and in the afternoon we rode with some wet patches at the beginning and then, when the track was getting dry I got the pace quite easy. In the final minutes I put a new tyre to try to find a good lap, but I crashed. I was improving and I think I could be in the top ten, but everything finished with the crash. We’ll see how is the weather tomorrow so we can try to get a better position for the qualifying practice, but the forecast is not so good.

Source: Avintia