Darryn happy with strong Friday’s work at Motegi

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Friday at the Mobility Resort Motegi saw just one session for the MotoGP class. To ensure all the material will arrive in time for all teams straight from Aragon, the Japanese GP started late on Friday with an FP1, which was extended to 75 minutes. Although the circuit was overcast all day and it drizzled a bit in some sectors of the track, the practice remained mainly dry and gave riders and teams a good opportunity to arrive back in Motegi after the last two Grands Prix in the land of the rising sun had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Riding his big machine for the first time at Motegi today, Darryn quickly found confidence and did one very fast lap straight behind his teammate. The South African MotoGP rookie concluded Free Practice one just 0.179 seconds behind teammate Crutchlow in P18, although he unfortunately registered a small crash at the end of the session.

Saturday will see a normal program for the premier class. Free Practice two is at 10:50 local time (03:50 CET), followed by FP3 at 14:25 local time (07:25 CET) and the Qualifyings from 15:05 local time (08:05 CET).

DARRYN BINDER

“Today has been a bit of a strange day with starting so late and having only one Free Practice. Luckily the weather held out, although there were some slight drops during the session, but fortunately, it stayed dry. We had a 75 minutes session, so a lot of time to spin some laps and get used to the track. It was so nice to be back here in Motegi after three years. I really enjoy riding this circuit and I had a lot of fun on the MotoGP bike. Unfortunately, I had a little crash at the end of the session, which is an unfortunate way to end the day. But overall, it has been a really positive Free Practice and I’m just 0.8 seconds from the first one, so I’m very happy about the work we’ve done today and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”