GOOD START TO THE WEEKEND FOR BRADLEY SMITH
The road to being in the best possible conditions for the race on Sunday is still long, but Aprilia has certainly started the weekend on the right foot. A prominent protagonist in FP1 with his third-place time, Aleix also confirmed his performance in the afternoon, taking an important top-10 spot even without resorting to a new tyre.
Bradley Smith had an outstanding morning session, where he finished in fifth place with a final time attack. His pace is also good, which is an aspect he worked hard on in the afternoon, without focusing on pure performance for a flying lap.
FP3 tomorrow morning will be fundamental, where Aleix and Bradley will be trying to go straight through to Q2 - the second qualifying session.
The name changes (GP of Styria) but not the track - the fast asphalt of the Red Bull Ring. For the first two practice session for the second Austrian Grand Prix, much work was done in preparation for the race in the Aprilia garage, with a lot of runs on used tyres and particular focus on pace.
Aleix was looking particularly good in the afternoon session, the one that is closed to the race situation in terms of temperature and track conditions. His eighth-best time, however, became twelfth place in the combined times of the two sessions, a position that the Spanish rider intends to improve on in FP3 tomorrow morning.
It was a good day for Bradley Smith, just over 3 tenths behind his teammate in the combined standings and focused on preparing for the race Sunday.