Despite the ever-changing wet weather, the 20-year-old had a superb start to his home race when he was also clocked with the fourth fastest top speed down the main straight.
Conditions changed radically during the day. The morning session was dry but cool, and Webb was able to consistently run fast lap times. His team-mate Marcel Schrötter was running in 14th position in Free Practice 2, and has been using the track time to further develop his new bike.
The afternoon saw rain from the start, beginning with wet patches on the course but soon spreading to soak the whole track. Webb revelled in the inclement weather conditions, heading the timesheets to finish second fastest by the end of the session. Schrötter moved up to 14th, and felt that had the temperature been higher, he could improve further.
Both racers and the Mahindra team are eagerly looking forward to tomorrow’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race. The Mahindra Racing 125 GP bike is the only one in the very competitive series for which the manufacturer creates both the engine and the chassis.
Danny Webb: Second position (wet session) – 2:36.956, Eighth overall – 2:18.672
“The whole day’s been very positive. We were going really well this morning in the dry, the bike’s fast and I’m feeling good. The weather was strange: on one half of the track it was pouring down and the other half was still dry. But the grip was quite good, and I was enjoying myself. If we can keep up this good feeling, we’ll have a great weekend.”
Marcel Schrötter: Fourteenth position (wet session) – 2:41.938, 20th overall – 2:21.056
“We’re not making many suspension adjustments now: we have found a good base setting for me and I’m getting much more confident. I think I could have been in the top five in the wet, but my engine was running too cool and down on power, so I had to stop to get some tape on the radiator. Then the rain really came down, and it was difficult to get up to speed. In the morning, I know where I was losing time, so I can improve in the dry.”
Visit www.mahindraracing.com for further information.
