Brilliant third position for Reiterberger
The first day of practice went well for the team on the Automotodrom of Brno, with a good third time for Markus Reiterberger and the fifteenth for Randy Pagaud, their best season results so far. Beau Beaton was a good ninth in the morning session, but he had a little crash in the afternoon, still being able to do better on Saturday.
During the morning free practice session, Markus Reiterberger was an excellent third, behind Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Barni) and Lorenzo Zanetti (BMW Motorrad Italia). Beau Beaton had also a good rhythm with the ninth time, and Randy Pagaud was nineteenth.
Petrucci was the quickest again in the afternoon session, in front of Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Reiterberger. The young German rider (17 years old) was only seven thousands of a second away from the second time. So he can look for a front row qualification tomorrow, even if there is nothing certain about the weather forecast for the weekend on the Czech track.
Randy Pagaud and Beau Beaton had a good day overall, even if the Australian rider had a little crash which slowed him down a little bit. The team has good reasons to be reasonably optimistic for this weekend.
Michel Garnier (team owner): “The results of this qualifying session are positive because Randy is in fifteenth position. Beau was not lucky; he put a new tyre and immediately crashed. He was doing well, it will be better tomorrow. Markus did a good third time. It’s great because if it rains on Saturday we will start from the front row. He confirmed the third time he had in the morning, so he is doing well. We are happy because it pleases the whole team who worked well. This is good for our future in the championship because I think that now we can look for a good final position.”
Markus Reiterberger: “The first few laps were not very good. I was not able to go fast because it was very slippery. I came in and we put a new tyre but the bike wouldn’t start, I didn’t know why. A cable from the battery was disconnected. We repaired it and I had only three laps to go. I went very fast and it was good fun. It was very nice to finish third.”
Randy Pagaud: “Good qualifying session this afternoon, but this morning I was a little tense because we did some tests here last week. I had a good lap time during those tests on a track that I didn’t know. I was hoping to repeat this time today but it was windy. I was 0.8 slower than during our tests. My fifteenth position is my best result since the beginning of the season. We are happy and we will try to be faster tomorrow, weather permitting.”
Beau Beaton: “This morning we ended up P9, which is pretty good for a first session. We made some changes and moved forward and when we put a new tyre in the qualifying session this afternoon I made a small error and lost the front. I was able to go back to the track and find a good set up, so I think we are going in the right direction.”
Results of the 1st qualifying practice session:
1- Danilo Petrucci – Barni Racing Team – Ducati 1098R – 2’03.625
2- Sylvain Barrier – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 0.454
3- Markus Reiterberger – Garnier Alpha Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 0.461
4- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R – + 0.466
5- Lorenzo Baroni – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R – + 0.730
6- Lorenzo Zanetti – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 1.077
7- Andrea Antonelli – Team Lorini – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.205
8- Fabio Massei – Team Piellemoto – BMW S1000RR – + 1.249
9- Niccolò Canepa – Lazio MotorSport – Ducati 1098R – + 1.316
10- Sheridan Morais – Lorenzini by Leoni – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.360
11- Ferruccio Lamborghini – Ten Kate Junior Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.849
12- Matthieu Lussiana – Team ASPI – BMW S1000RR – + 2.077
13- Bryan Staring – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 2.147
14- Tomas Svitok – SK Energy Team – Ducati 1098R – + 2.212
15- Randy Pagaud – Garnier Alpha Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 2.271
… 21- Beau Beaton – Garnier Alpha Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 2.628
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