Positive day for Maverick Viñales and Álex Rins, who will start tomorrow’s race from the front and second row, respectively. Miguel Oliveira places eleventh, whilst Álex Márquez crashes three times in qualifying.
The second day of practice for the Indianapolis Grand Prix took place today, with mixed fortunes for the Repsol riders in the Moto3 class. Whilst Maverick Viñales took a front row start and Álex Rins a place on row two, Miguel Oliveira was unable to match his good feeling with the bike with a top starting position on the grid. He will take off from the fourth row. The worst luck was that of Álex Márquez, who suffered three crashes in qualifying and placed twentiefth.
In the final free practice session, the positive adaptation to the track from the Repsol riders was apparent. Despite the KTM bikes performing at a high level, with Sandro Cortese setting the pace, Viñales was able to keep close to him with the third best time. Rins was fourth, Oliveira seventh and Márquez twelfth.
In qualifying, things went even worse for Álex Márquez. Midway through the session, the leader of the CEV Moto3 class had a small crash. He reappeared on track after repairs were made to his bike, but he suffered a similar incident with 20 minutes remaining on the clock. He fell at the final turn of the track, once again only causing minor damage to his machine. His third fall, in the final minute of the session, came at the same place and left him with a large contusion to his left foot and gluteus.The incident required the showing of the red flag by the race officials.
Maverick Viñales had decidedly better luck, after working for almost the entirety of the session on gear shifting. He took the third best time of the day and a front row start. Álex Rins had another excellent session and sixth quickest, half a second down on poleman Sandro Cortese. A small crash halfway through the session did not stop Miguel Oliveira from claiming the eleventh best time, 0.852 off pole.
Maverick Viñales >> Audio
FP3 – 1:48.964, 18 laps, 76 km.
QP – 1:48.643, 19 laps, 80 km.
“I am fairly satisfied with how we are progressing, step-by-step. We will continue working in tomorrow’s warmup to continue our improvement. I am satisfied with the times that we are setting and motivated for tomorrow. The KTM bikes are performing better at this GP and we will have to put up with that this time, but soon we will get to tracks at which we have the advantage.”
Miguel Oliveira >> Audio (portuguese)
FP3 – 1:49.423, 19 laps, 80 km.
QP – 1:49.397, 15 laps, 63 km.
“Today didn’t go as we were hoping, despite us having solved a lot of the problems that we had with the bike. in the morning session things worked well, but in qualifying the crash affected us a lot. Thanks to the effort of the team, we got the bike ready to go out again before the end of the session. However, the traffic and the red flag impeded me from getting the result that I was looking for. We still have a margin of error for tomorrow; despite starting from far back, we need to get a good start and fight until the end.”
Álex Rins >> Audio
FP3 – 1:49.041, 19 laps, 80 km.
QP – 1:49.041, 17 laps, 72 km.
“I am satisfied with the performance of the team today, despite there being a few aspects that we will need to improve tomorrow. We got a good time in the afternoon, although some problems with the rear slowed us down a little. In any case, I am calm about tomorrow and sure that my team will solve these problems for tomorrow. Cortese has the best pace at the moment, but the race will be run in groups and we have to be up at the front in order to fight alongside the rest.”
Álex Márquez>> Audio
FP3 – 1:50.115, 18 laps, 76 km.
QP – 1:50.184, 9 laps, 38 km.
“This morning we had already bested our times from yesterday, which made me feel much more comfortable on the bike. In the afternoon I expected to make the same progress, but the three crashed hit us hard. We start from fas back on the grid, although I hope to get a good start and then give my all.”
