Xavi Vierge & Isaac Viñales get to work at Brno

Tech3 Racing Team rider Xavi Vierge produced a solid effort on the first day of action in the Czech Republic as the young Spaniard returned to the venue where he made his European debut in the World Championship last year. The 19-year-old started his round 11 campaign by completing 16 laps in the opening shakedown as he took the first steps in adjusting the setup of his Mistral 610.

In the afternoon, he attacked immediately and consistently improved before posting his personal best on the penultimate lap, which resulted in him cutting 1.143 from his FP1 time. This performance left him barely a second over from the top ten and he remains confident of progressing further tomorrow morning ahead of the all-important qualifying shootout.

Meanwhile, Isaac Viñales finished the day only 0.063 of a second behind his teammate as he started the vital preparation for the 20 lap race on Sunday. The intermediate class rookie jumped into gear when the morning practice started and he began making the initial setup changes to his Moto2 bike as he completed 15 laps.

In the afternoon, he carried on pushing whilst he worked closely with the Tech3 Racing Team and he improved on his personal best in FP1 by a second and ended the session in 24th. The Spaniard fully intends to lower his time further tomorrow and then produce a positive performance in qualifying.

Xavi Vierge
“Overall, I have to say that the first day of action in the Czech Grand Prix has been quite good and I am satisfied with what we achieved. I have to admit that it was a bit tricky this morning because we had an issue with the rear tyre spinning, but we made some adjustments and it got better in FP2. As a result, I cut my time a lot and I am confident of lowering it again tomorrow. Now, the guys and I will work on the telemetry in order to try and find some more improvements to help my rhythm. I am sure we can be quicker in FP3 and then ready for the qualifying where I will do my best.”

Isaac Viñales
“It goes without saying that it’s the first time for me at the Brno Circuit on a Moto2 bike and even if the result is not as good as we had hoped, I am confident about the rest of the weekend. In both sessions, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable on the bike, but we are all working as much as we can to get to where we need to be. I am certain that we can make a positive step tomorrow in day two in the Czech Republic, and I will push my hardest to get a good grid position so we can have a better chance in the race.”

Source: Tech3