GP Czech Republic 12.8.2011 - Free Practice

After Friday’s practice sessions Miroslav Popov is in p28 i.e. the second fastest of the four riders who got a wild card for the race weekend in Brno. He has only limited experience of the Brno race track so the first day on the Masaryk Circuit was mainly about learning, finding the necessary confidence and getting accustomed to it. The Czech rider of the Ellegi Racing Italian team drove his introductory practice mileage as part of the preparation for Sunday´s Czech Republic Grand Prix. The Brno circuit race track is extremely wide which can lead to an incorrect driving style if taken wrongly. Therefore experience is the key here but the sixteen-year old Czech is now acquiring it gradually. He improved in the second practice session, his pace was smoother and he managed to eliminate certain issues of the morning runs and relatively quickly adapted to the local conditions. Compared to the first practice run Popov improved his time by three seconds which is a good sign just before the third practice session.

#95 Miroslav Popov (ElleGi Racing)
p28, time 2´12.985 seconds

“Even though Brno is my home circuit I don´t like it much but it doesn’t matter. It is extremely difficult to understand; the race track is very wide and if you make a mistake in one corner you risk the same mistake in the following corners. Moreover I have only raced here a few times although once I won the race on a 125GP but that cannot be compared. Unlike this morning I managed to eliminate a few minor balance issues in the second session which allowed me to catch up with faster competitors. I hope to be better tomorrow and get a good position during the start. No need to say that I really care about it and I hope I will manage it.”