09 October 2020 – Le Mans – France
The first day of free practice of the French Grand Prix has been characterized by rather ugly weather conditions, with not so low temperatures, but with the rain that has characterized the free practice 1 and the beginning of the free practice 2. Throughout the morning, due to the bad conditions of the track, there have been a lot of falls, among them it is needed to register the ones of Romano and Alonso. Romano fell at the first timed lap and, thanks to an amazing job done by his team, he succeeded to return on track before the end of the session. Alonso instead fell at the sixth lap and, due to the damages that his FR 250 GP reported, he did not ended the practice.
Throughout the Free Practice 2 the rain stopped and the track has progressively dried off. This has allowed all the pilots to improve their times.
Romano showed off an excellent feeling with the track and he succeeded, after twelve laps done in two runs, to obtain the time of 1’44.859. This performance allows him to be in second position in the combined ranking, with a gap from the leader F. Salac of only 0.039 s.
For what concerns Alonso, sixteen are the laps completed in two runs. 1’48.617 is his best lap, which has brought him in twenty-ninth position in the Friday’s free combined practice, with a gap of 3.797 s.
Let us leave the floor to the protagonists of this first day of free practice on the Bugatti.
Romano Fenati: “I am really satisfied about this first day of free practice. Since the beginning we had a good feeling with the wet track, even after the little fall of this morning. We hope to do a good qualifying, because on this track it is crucial to take off in front.”
Alonso Lopez: “I am happy, because I feel in good shape and this is the most important thing for tomorrow and Sunday. My feeling on wet conditions was perfect, but the with a mix between wet and dry conditions I did not feel well as in the previous grand prix . For me it is difficult, because I do not want to take many risks. Tomorrow I hope to improve with the my bike in dry conditions.”
Max Biaggi – Team Owner: “As often happens on the Bugatti, the weather conditions have influenced the results of this first day of free practice. Romano succeeded to be fast both with the wet track and with humid track. This has allowed him to obtain a good result. Unfortunately I believe that Alonso after the fall of the morning lost some confidence , but I hope that tomorrow he will come back.”
