On what is his temporary return to racing, Jonas Folger handled his first taste of the significantly higher level of competition in the premier class MotoGP™ with ease.
For 32-year-old Jonas Folger, who is filling in for Spaniard Maverick Viñales at Red Bull KTM Tech3 this weekend while Viñales is sidelined with a lingering shoulder injury, began the team’s home Grand Prix, which is based in southern France, with a sense of unease. He found it difficult to hide tension of the task ahead at his comeback, which came together at the very last minute.
But the KTM test rider drew on his experience, stayed calm and impressed with a solid performance as the day wore on. While the watch stopped at a 1´34.098 on his fastest lap during this morning’s free practice session, it took only Five laps for Folger in Practice session in the afternoon in good conditions to break into the 1´33 range. From that point on, he improved his lap time by half a second in virtually every run of the one hour long session.
At the end of the day, Folger set a personal best in 1´32.450. That put him just 2.5 seconds behind the fastest lap time set during the weekend’s first real time attack at the 4.1km track. More important to him, however, are the insights he gained in Terms of his riding and the improved feeling he now has for the KTM RC16.
MotoGP action at the Grand Prix of France kicks off on Saturday morning at 10:10 a.m. local time with the second free practice session, followed by Q1 and Q2. The 13-lap Sprint is scheduled for the afternoon, with the start set for 3:00 p.m.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Red Bull KTM Tech3, KTM RC16)
Practice: P22 - 1´32.450 (20/21)
«I was really excited before the first practice session this morning. Of course, I was also a bit nervous, because during the long time I’ve been away from MotoGP, the level of competition has risen incredibly and the competition has become tougher and tougher. So I’m just happy to have finished the day, after such a long break, with 2.5 seconds off the fastest time. I didn’t crash, I understood the bike, and I worked on adapting my riding style during both sessions. Still, today’s sessions were enormously exhausting for me. Aside from that, it’s fascinating how much riding styles have evolved with corner speeds are much higher now, everything looks smoother, and it’s gotten much faster. Many thanks to the entire team for their support, which is a huge help to me.»
#FrenchGP - MotoGP™ Practice Classification:
1 Johann ZARCO / FRA / Castrol Honda LCR / Honda / 1´29.907
2 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO / ITA / Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team / Ducati / 1´29.917 +0.010
3 Francesco BAGNAIA / ITA / Ducati Lenovo Team / Ducati / 1´30.045 +0.138
…
22 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Red Bull KTM Tech3 / KTM / 1´32.450 +2.543
#FrenchGP - MotoGP™ Time Schedule for Saturday May 9th (CEST):
10:10 - 10:40 FP
10:50 - 11:05 Q1
11:15 - 11:30 Q2
15:00 Sprint (13 Laps - 54.509 km)
