Garzo and Baldassarri chase important points in the penultimate race of the season in Misano

In the penultimate race of the season, Dynavolt Intact GP Team riders Hector Garzo and Lorenzo Baldassarri will start the two 8-lap sprints at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from positions seven and thirteen. Both want to collect as many points as possible for the big season finale.

A week after his home race in Barcelona, Hector Garzo showed a significant improvement in performance at Misano, just a stone's throw from the Adriatic coast. The 27-year-old got off to a solid start with 10th place in FP1 before improving to second in the decisive qualifying session on Friday afternoon. His fast lap of 1'40.444 was only 0.013s behind Italian Matteo Ferrari. Garzo was unable to beat this time in Q2; a 1:40.621 ultimately meant seventh place on the grid for the two sprint races on Saturday.

For local hero Lorenzo Baldassarri, qualifying day did not go quite according to plan. Despite a slip-up and fifth place in FP, he went into qualifying feeling optimistic, but had to settle for ninth place and make his way through Q1. In the ten-minute session, another minor crash meant that the 28-year-old finished fifth and failed to make it through to Q2. This means that the current World Championship leader will start the race from thirteenth on the grid. In front of his home crowd, he wants to make up ground with a strong start and fight for top positions in the leading group right from the outset.

Results

Free Practice
1. Andrea MANTOVANI/ ITA – 1'41.324
2. Alessandro ZACCONE/ ITA – 1'41.708 (+0.384)
3. Mattia CASADEI/ ITA – 1'41.822 (+0.498)
5. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI/ ITA – 1'42.125 (+0.801)
10. Hector GARZO/ SPA – 1'42.831 (+1.507)

Practice
1. Matteo FERRARI/ITA – 1'40.431
2. Hector GARZO/ SPA – 1'40.444 (+0.013)
3. Mattia CASADEI/ ITA – 1'40.494 (+0.063)
9. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI/ ITA – 1'41.058 (+0.627)

Q1
1. Jordi TORRES/ SPA – 1'40.135
2. Alessio FINELLO/ ITA – 1'41.108 (+0.973)
3. Luca BERNARDI/ RSM – 1'41.132 (+0.997)
5. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI/ ITA – 1'41.468 (+1.333)

Q2
1. Eric GRANADO/ BRA – 1'40.030
2. Alessandro ZACCONE/ ITA – 1'40.056 (+0.026)
3. Andrea MANTOVANI/ ITA – 1'40.114 (+0.084)
7. Hector GARZO/ SPA – 1'40.621 (+0.591)