Dry and sun-kissed Friday in Jerez de la Frontera, but the weather forecast promises the arrival of rain on Saturday morning. This is why Level Up MTA Racing immediately worked on the flying lap and race pace: anticipating the atmospheric change, testing the efficiency of the tires and gaining the important access to Q2. Mission accomplished by Stefano Nepa, tenth with his 1’45″297, time to place him in the first half of the Moto3 class. The Panther also completed long runs, tests in view of the Sunday challenge, with truly positive feedback. Despite a harmless crash, Nicola Carraro was also competitive, seventeenth with a time of 1’45″825. For him, the top ten potential was thwarted by the unexpected, but temporarily: we will have a qualification characterized by the decisive attack.
Alessandro Tonucci, Team Manager:
“Positive Friday, in which both our riders immediately showed excellent potential. The tests done on the KTMs allowed Nepa and Carraro to go fast in both timed sessions: a morning of constructive long runs for Stefano, with tire tests in anticipation of the race, while Nicola made two attempts, also drawing interesting indications. Top ten afternoon for Nepa, with further tire checks and Q2 confirmed, the crash suffered by Carraro was a shame, but the speed and effectiveness to enter among the best has only been postponed until tomorrow”.
#82 Stefano Nepa P10: “Good day, between tire tests and working on the data in view of the Sunday race. We are in the top 10 of Moto3, but we are convinced that we can still lower flying lap times and improve long-distance performance. We are in Q2, an excellent result, given the weather which could change tomorrow. In case of rain, having guaranteed access to the top fourteen of the qualification represents one less obstacle to face”.
#10 Nicola Carraro, P17 : “I crashed in the afternoon, but luckily I’m fine and, even more importantly, the speed I showed between the first and second rounds of timed practice. I have reference from seventh or eighth place and an excellent job done both with used tires and with fresh ones. Tomorrow’s goal is to attack Q2, hoping that the weather conditions don’t make everything more complicated.”
