Gresini Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer has hinted that he might be a dark horse for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, despite failing to make it directly into Saturday’s Q2 session.
Although things went awry for the Spaniard when he couldn’t adapt to the unpredictable conditions late in Practice, Aldeguer finished Friday quietly confident after showing generally strong pace.
Aldeguer, who scored his breakthrough win on MotoGP’s last visit to the tropics, two races ago in Indonesia, was fastest in Free Practice 1. Having headed that session by a healthy margin of over two tenths of a second, he quickly hit the top of the timesheets when most of the field went out on fresh soft tyres early in afternoon Practice. That time held for the better part of the session, until rain arrived and others responded better.
The 20-year-old clearly had these positives in mind when he spoke to media at the end of the day.
“Today was a good day until the last 10-20 minutes. I was a little bit nervous in the last part, because in the first time attack I didn’t close a good [enough] lap time.
“Later, with the rain, I [went into] the last time attack [very cautiously] and the front tyre wasn’t ready. And, yes, it was a little bit of a disaster moment.
“But the feeling, that is the important thing, was good. We were fast during the whole day, in all conditions.”
While the Sepang race does not feature the harder tyre carcass that proved so favourable for Aldeguer at Mandalika, it does offer the rookie a chance to race his MotoGP bike at a circuit where he has ridden it before. That’s thanks to the pre-season tests at the venue.
“Here it’s different, because we did the test. Yes, it’s not the same conditions, it’s not the same bike, but I had some references.
“Also, to be honest, it’s a good track for me. I like it, it’s one of my favourites, it’s [good for] my riding style. This helped me to be in first position quickly [in the morning].”
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