Kostamo confirmed as favorite, faster on first session
Erno Kostamo
Yesterday, the Finn Erno Kostamo confirmed that he is in a good position to win the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix (GP) this year.
During yesterday morning’s free practice session, Kostamo made the most laps of Guia track (a total of 17), including the best lap of the session with a time of 2:31.069.
Although this was the best lap so far of the Motorcycle GP this year, the lap time exceeds by over 3 seconds the best lap of the first free practice session back in 2019, when Peter Hickman lapped around Guia in 2:28.007.
Still, it is an improvement for Kostamo who three years ago had recorded a 2:32.578 on this very same session.
Seconding Kostamo was the Brit Robert Hodson, another returning rider to Macau and also a contender who took his Kawasaki ZX10RR around the streets of Macau in 2:34.598, over 3.5 seconds slower than Kostamo.
The highlight of the day goes to the German David Datzer whose talents and results have placed him in the group of favorites. A newcomer to Macau, Datzer performed excellently in the first session, being the third fastest with the best time of 2:36.573. Still, he was some 5.5 seconds slower than Kostamo.
Two qualifying session schedules were held today: the first at 7:30 a.m.; and the second at 12:30 p.m. Each of these sessions are 30-minutes in duration and it is expected that after the first day of adjustment of riders and machines, the lap times will start to drop, drawing a clearer picture of who will be the main contenders in the races tomorrow.
