Avintia Racing’s Loris Baz ended Friday practice down in 21st on the time sheets after a difficult time in dry conditions, though enjoyed himself in the damp FP2 where he was fifth fastest on intermediate tyres.
The Frenchman has been out of sorts for some time now. He has lost all confidence in his Desmosedici GP14.2 in dry conditions, and today was no exception. Baz struggled to last in FP1 with a best lap of 2m04.623s, which was over three seconds off the pace. This is in stark contrast to teammate Hector Barbera, the Spaniard sixth fastest and just four tenths off the pace.
Worryingly for Baz, he still does not know what the issue is, though it seems to resolve itself in iffy conditions. Like we saw earlier in the year at the Czech Grand Prix, where the French rider stormed from the back of the field to fourth, Baz was able to set a pretty impressive pace in the damp conditions of FP2.
Choosing to run the intermediate tyres, Baz set a steady run of increasingly quick lap times, which actually could prove as useful information should similar conditions be seen in qualifying and the race. The Avintia rider was top of the pile for quite some time on a 2m09.698s before slick-shod runners bumped him back to fifth.
Twitter: Only FP2 on strange condition but how good it is to enjoy riding the bike! Not happen really often lately! Let’s see what tomorrow bring (@lorisbaz)
His time at the sharp-end in practice massively pleased the struggling Frenchman, Baz noting that it gave him a big boost in motivation. He also joked that it was nice to have some television exposure for something he was doing on track other than a crash.
“This morning I had the usual problems in the dry, I have no confidence. The worst part is that I can’t find the answer, so it is difficult. But this afternoon I immediately felt great in really strange conditions,” a puzzled Baz said.
“I did quite a lot of laps on the intermediate Michelin tyres and I had some fun, which is something that did not happen since a long time. It was especially useful since it was the first time we used these tyres and they really worked. We have to wait and see what the weather will be like tomorrow, and the track conditions. It is always good to be in front, it is a boost for your motivation and it was also good for my team. At least I’ve been on TV for a while and this time not because of a crash…”
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