Tito Rabat satisfied with times in practice in Jerez

Cool, wet and windy conditions greeted the paddock this morning for the start of FP1, as the MotoGP field kicked off preparations for the historic 3000th Grand Prix on Sunday. This afternoon’s second session started under dry and cloudy skies, but the early challenge was safely negotiating numerous damp patches that were scattered around the 4.4km track.

Tito Rabat dedicated most his time on track this morning to gaining more confidence in wet conditions and he was satisfied to lap close to two seconds off the best pace. Unwilling to take too many risks on a drying track this afternoon, Rabat ended the day in 17th position but confident he can make big progress in improving on his best pace of 1’41.165.

Tito Rabat: 17th – 1’41.165

“I was lacking a bit of confidence in the wet conditions this morning and we had to make a lot of changes to the set-up, in particular the electronics. We made a lot of progress though with the bike performance in the rain, so I think we can be more optimistic about our potential in these conditions again in the future. I had a good feeling in FP2 but I was surprised at the pace in the early laps. Some people were going crazy because there were a lot of damp patches and it was quite dangerous in parts, so I tried to stay calm. I took a few more risks on the final run but there was no meaning to push too hard in those conditions. We have picked up a few good pointers for the set-up today and I am sure with better weather we can go faster over the rest of the weekend.”

Source – Marc VDS Racing