It was an intense weekend here at Donington Park, with some unexpectedly hot conditions. On Friday, we started with some ideas from our recent test at Balaton Park, focusing mainly on set-up work in the first session. By Superpole, we managed to find a base that worked, and I was able to improve my lap times and the overall feeling with the bike. The tricky conditions toward the end of the session didn’t allow me to take another step, but we knew there was still margin to work with for the races.

Saturday morning, we confirmed our plan with a few minor tweaks during warm-up. Unfortunately, I received a grid penalty that forced me to start from the very back, which was frustrating after the work done in Superpole. Despite that, I fought my way up to 16th position, but it was clear we still needed more pace. Together with the team, we went through the data to find possible improvements for Sunday.

On Sunday, my warm-up was cut short when the marshalls stopped me for a technical issue before I could complete any laps. Even so, we decided to stick with the front-end changes we had made, and it turned out to be the right call – I felt more confident in the braking. However, we struggled with a lack of power, and after the first few laps I couldn’t really push forward. I focused on holding my position and working on consistency with my pace.

Overall, it was a weekend of mixed feelings: we made progress in some areas, but there’s still work ahead to close the gap. The team and I will keep pushing to take another step forward in the next round.