Another three sessions of testing were awaiting Red Bull KTM Tech3 riders Daniel Holgado and Filippo Farioli on Saturday at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. However, a rain fall this morning meant that a drying track left both riders in the pit box during the first session of the day.
Eventually the sun came back and the track dried out just in time for the second session, meaning that the action could finally start in Portimao for the lightweight category. Fifth in the standings at the end of play on Friday, Daniel Holgado continued to get on with his testing programme. The settings worked on yesterday seemed to suit the young Spaniard, so he continued to work with the same base and improved his time to 1’48.781 after sixteen laps. His teammate Filippo Farioli continued the learning process of his KTM machine after a positive first day with his new team, and registered twenty laps during the FP2.
In the final session, Holgado continued to get the laps in with a solid rhythm, highlighted by his fastest lap of the Portimao Test so far, in 1’48.694 on lap 10/11. He completed the day third in the standings, 0.341 seconds from the fastest man of the day. Farioli also completed eleven laps in the final slot of the day, but a small mistake in the final corner, while he was doing his best lap of the day, took him down, calling it a day for the Italian rider. His FP2 lap in 1’49.717 placed him in P19 in the combined standings. Red Bull KTM Tech3 riders have one more day to complete their respective testing programmes in Portimao, before the season opener next week in Portugal.
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Daniel Holgado
Position: 3rd
Time: 1'48.694
Laps: 30
"I am very happy with our second day in Portimao. We did a good job with the bike’s setting as I felt confident on it all day so I would like to thank my team again for the job done. We have one more day tomorrow to make the final adjustments, gain in confidence, and then we will be ready for the first race."
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Filippo Farioli
Position: 19th
Time: 1'49.717
Laps: 31
"Today, we changed a lot of things on the bike, for the better, because we improved a lot. The feelings were better and overall I felt more confident on track. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the last session today which prevented me from improving my lap time. Anyway, we are heading in the right direction and we will make the most of the final day on Sunday to prepare for the first race."
