Repsol rider qualifies on pole with final lap, joined on front row by Álex Rins. Miguel Oliveira to start from sixteenth.
The front row of the grid for the Moto3 Italian Grand Prix will be headed by Maverick Viñales, who put in a spectacular pole lap in qualifying. He will be accompanied by fellow Repsol rider Álex Rins, who put in the third best lap on his first visit to Mugello. Miguel Oliveira had a more problematic time of things and will take off from row six courtesy of the sixteenth fastest time of the day.
Maverick Viñales left it late top ut in the time which earned him pole number four of the season, having shown great pace in free practice. The Repsol rider had made various attempts at a hot lap, but was impeded on a series of occasions by other riders looking for a tow.
However, on a final clean run, the Spaniard used an impeccable final sector ride to his advantage and found a slipstream of his own on the straight, thus lowering the fastest lap time of the day by almost half a second. That knocked series leader Sandro Cortese off the top spot. The front row will be completed by Álex Rins, the reigning Spanish Champion who has made enormous progress in the four sessions at his first Italian Grand Prix.
Teammate Miguel Oliveira also made constant improvement, but it was not enough to give him one of the better positions on the grid. The Portuguese rider broke the two minute barrier in qualifying, but was a little off the leading times and will start from sixteenth —looking to latch onto the lead group with a bit of help from his technicians.
Maverick Viñales >> Audio
FP3 – 1:58.530, 13 laps, 68 km.
QP – 1:57.980, 17 laps, 89 km.
“That was a very exciting qualifying session; it seemed like a race out there with all the riders who were on track. There were a few times in which I was riding a fast lap on my own and other riders latched on and put me off. I got a little annoyed, but then I thought that it was best just to let them pass and slightstream them on the straight. I was able to take pole on the final sector, despite being behind other riders.”
Miguel Oliveira >> Audio
FP3 – 2:00.102, 17 laps, 89 km.
QP – 1:59.966, 18 laps, 94 km.
“Our objective was to improve upon our times from yesterday, but unfortunately that wasn’t to be. Obviously I am not at all satisfied with the result, as I expected much more from today’s session. I said yesterday that it was very important to qualify well, as here at Mugello that is key to the race, but in the end we lacked pace and didn’t get a consistent hot lap. We have to analyse this with the technicians to see what is happening and to find out where I went wrong too. We will need to attack on the opening laps of the race to keep up with the lead group, as in the first half of the race we can recover the ground lost today.”
Álex Rins >> Audio >> Audio (cat)
FP3 – 1:59.467, 16 laps, 84 km.
QP – 1:58.821, 17 laps, 89 km.
“First of all, I want to thank my team, who worked all night to allow us to have a competitive bike today. In qualifying I got my second best result of the season, which is extremely satisfying. For tomorrow we need to get a good start and latch onto the pack as soon as possible, as it will be a race of groups. We still need to ride our own race, with energy but without losing calm. We have sufficient pace to be up at the front, so we can approach the race positively. It is easier to get fast laps in when in a race situation, as the others help you out —although they can also hinder you when you exchange overtaking moves.”
