Dovizioso and Binder Experience Rainy Friday in the Algarve

22-04-2022

Dovizioso and Binder Experience Rainy Friday in the Algarve

The WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team faced fresh and wet conditions on the opening day of the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Cold and wet weather conditions welcomed teams and riders in Europe this weekend. Following a windy but sunny Thursday, the rain arrived around the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve on Friday with the track action to begin. Yet, the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team tried to get the best out of two rainy sessions.

Andrea Dovizioso approached the weekend steadily. The experienced Italian landed on 22nd position in Free Practice one, but managed to improve throughout the second session of the weekend by 0.53 seconds, although there was even more water on the tarmac. He did the third fastest time of the entire field in FP2 and with it improved his overall position to P14 in the combined standings.

Meanwhile, WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team’s Darryn Binder had a tough time to re-learn the Portuguese circuit in wet conditions. The MotoGP rookie stepped forward in the course of the first session, but was unable to improve his personal best time of 1:54.029 minutes in the Free Practice two this afternoon. He concluded day one in 24th position overall.

The forecast for Saturday doesn’t promise too much improvement. Yet, both Dovizioso and Binder are getting more and more comfortable at the wet rollercoaster circuit in Portugal’s holiday region. They will seek further refinements in Free Practice three tomorrow morning at 09:55 local time (10:55 CET) ahead of FP4 and the all-important Qualifying sessions from 14:10 local time (15:10 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Racing Team

“Today has been very difficult, because the grip is very low. But we tried to have some feedback from a different setup. It’s a bit tricky, as it doesn’t change a lot on our overall characteristics, when you experiment with the setup, but in any case, in the afternoon, I did a good lap time and I was a bit closer. The feeling is still not really good, the grip is not good in the wet and I’m struggling. To be honest, it’s difficult to get the feeling. I hope the conditions tomorrow will be different, so we can understand our speed on the dry.”

Darryn Binder

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Racing Team

“This has been a very wet Friday in Portimao. It’s been an interesting day. The track conditions here in Portimao have been very different to our race in Indonesia. It was quite an interesting day of learning with a lot lower grip, but step by step I started to gain a bit of confidence. At the end of FP2 it rained really hard and there was a lot of water on the track, which made things very difficult. I was a lot slower than at the beginning. But overall, I feel like I’m slowly starting to understand. Let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow. Hopefully I can make a step forward.”