The Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo of Hafizh Syahrin and Johann Zarco commenced the Monster Energy Grand Prix Cescke Republiky with great enthusiasm and a very strong performance today.
While Syahrin was incredibly fast from the word go, while getting used to his Yamaha YZR-M1 at the long Automotodrom Brno quickly, he improved by unbelievable 1.228 seconds from the first session this morning to eventually finish Friday in fourth spot as the best Yamaha rider and the best rookie of the field.
Meanwhile, Zarco topped FP1 with a fabulous 1’56.647, he was working on his race pace during the second Free Practice this afternoon. Thereby, he lowered his lap time from this morning to this afternoon by 0.112 seconds in order to end up in ninth overall. Both, Syahrin and Zarco can’t wait to be back on the hot Czech asphalt tomorrow at 9.55 local time for the third practice session.
Johann Zarco
Position: 9th- Time: 1’56.535 – Laps: 32
“It was good to restart. FP1 has been pretty good. With the new medium tyre I did a great lap time and was happy to be first. In the afternoon it was very hot. The good thing is, that we could try almost all the tyres and understand, plus getting some feeling, which is very important to prepare the rest of the weekend. On the last exit with the new soft tyre, I have been unlucky. Because on the two fast laps that I was supposed to do, I had to overtake slower riders and lost time. It’s a pity to not be able to do a very good lap time in the end, but we are inside the top 10, which is a great sign for tomorrow.”
Hafizh Syahrin
Position: 4th – Time: 1’56.200 – Laps: 29