The DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team experienced a tough start to the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM with Jakub Kornfeil concluding the day in 22nd and Zulfahmi Khairuddin in 32nd, following their combined practice times.
In order to resolve some initial technical issues the DRIVE M7 SIC Racing Team continued to use both free practice sessions to test a variety of elements on the 2015 KTM Machine’s. Putting aside lap times in order to focus their attentions on finding the optimal settings for tomorrow’s Qualifying Practice, the team concluded day one at Mugello happy with the data gained and confident that they can show their progress with improved performance tomorrow.
#63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin
FP1: P31; 2’01.236 (DRY) – 15 laps
FP2: P30; 2’00.414 (DRY) –15 laps
“This morning I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. We did something similar to Le Mans but it wasn’t the right way to go, so we had to continue to test various settings throughout the session. In FP2 I felt happier with my bike but I was not able to find one more second and despite being quite strong in the first two sectors I kept losing a lot of time in sector three. For sure there are still some things we can improve with our set-up but I feel a lot happier with the bike, so the majority is up to me. I must focus myself and concentrate on my riding and if I do this, I believe I can find another second in FP3 tomorrow. The main focus now is my riding and so I will work hard on this to improve and hopefully we can have a good qualifying day.”
#84 Jakub Kornfeil
FP1: P14; 1’59.527 (DRY) – 17 laps
FP2: P21; 1’59.309 (DRY) – 12 laps
“We made some big plans for the practice sessions yesterday but we had to change our strategy because in FP1 we had many difficulties with the set-up. From the start of the session I tried to push but I wasn’t able to. I had to be careful so I used my initial time on track to familiarise myself with the layout again and understand the gearbox. It was a tough first practice. We were hoping that we could resolve the issues before the second session but unfortunately in FP2 we experienced some more problems and now we have to fix this for tomorrow. I still feel positive because from today we have gained so much more knowledge. We tested many things and we understand the bike a lot more. Now we just need to make the final decision on which way to go, but once we have done this I’m confident that we can go faster. Overall, even with our position today I am still happy because this is what practice is for; it is so important to understand the bike well and we have achieved this today. Everyone is working hard, so we will continue to stay focused and I know the results will come.”
