Repsol rider claims best time in duel with Cortese. Rins places eighth, Álex Márquez eighteenth and Oliveira twenty-first.
The weekend of the Czech Republic GP is reflecting the battle in the overall standings, as Maverick Viñales and Sandro Cortese lead the way. The Repsol rider came out on top in qualifying, taking his fifth pole of the season. Álex Rins was eighth in the session, in which Álex Márquez and Miguel Oliveira both crashed to place 18th and 21st, respectively.
The second day of action at Brno began with conditions considerably different to day one. After overnight storms, the day began with cloudy skies and the threat of heavy rain at any moment. The track conditions stayed largely the same, and Maverick Viñales and Sandro Cortese continued to put in the fastest times. In the morning practice, the Spaniard was just 77 thousandths of a second down on Cortese.
Equally positive were the performances of Oliveira, Márquez and Rins. The Portuguese was one of the quickest in the session, although he eventually finished eleventh —two places ahead of Márquez. Rins also began confidently, riding amongst the frontrunners until he crashed at the same place as on Friday —turn 9— midway through the session. He rode his Suter Honda back to the pits, where his team repaired the damage to the left hand side and got him back on track with 15 minutes to go. He placed seventeenth.
Come qualifying, the first and second placed riders in the World Championship were again fighting for pole. Whilst they were close in practice and Cortese had won out on that occasion, the roles were reversed in the afternoon and the Repsol rider claimed pole number five of the season —33 thousandths of a second quicker than his rival.
Álex Rins, on his first visit to Brno and sore from two crashes over the course of the weekend, had an impeccable session to give him eighth place and a third row start. On row six will be Álex Márquez, who crashed twice in qualifying and could only salvage eighteenth place. One row behind will be Miguel Oliveira, who has been experiencing problems with the long straights and also fell today, at turn nine. He claimed twenty-first on the grid.
Maverick Viñales >> Audio
FP3 – 2:08.499 15 laps, 81 km.
QP – 2:08.075, 16 laps, 86 km.
“I am very happy, because I took pole without relying on slipstreams and I have a good pace. Brno has a lot of straights and it is hard to take pole riding solo. We are where we need to be now, working hard, and we have to forget about the crash at Indianapolis. We have found a very good setting and the feeling is good. We have the chassis working well, which is very important. Tomorrow is going to be a thrilling race, but I’m sure that we will be fighting for the win.”
Miguel Oliveira >> Audio
FP3 – 2:09.943, 15 laps, 81 km.
QP – 2:10.182, 15 laps, 81 km.
“We are finding it harder than normal at this track, as we have only been able to knock six tenths off yesterday’s lap times and we weren’t sure which way to go with the setup. We tried a few things that didn’t work in qualifying and in the final stages I latched onto a quick group. That was when I crashed, as I was right at the limit with the bike. We start from far back tomorrow, so we need to make a comeback.”
Álex Rins >> Audio
FP3 – 2:10.339, 12 laps, 76 km.
QP – 2:09.221, 15 laps, 81 km.
“That was a fairly positive qualifying session, as in the end we got a good time. Bearing in mind the practices yesterday and this morning, which were affected by my crashes, I think that we can be satisfied. I think that we can be fighting with the front group tomorrow, as we have a good pace, but we can still improve it by quite a bit.”
Álex Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:10.202, 14 laps, 65 km.
QP – 2:09.821, 9 laps, 49 km.
“In the morning we took some important steps forward which allowed us to improve our feeling with the bike. We were very confident about the afternoon and had a good plan for going faster. However, when following Cortese I had a small crash and had to take the bike back to the garage. When I went back out there were seven minutes left, and the great job from the team allowed me to go at a fast pace again. Then another rider hit me and I hit the ground again, this time unable to finish the session. Tomorrow we will start from eighteenth and look for more race experience. I am happy with how the team are working.”
