The Silverstone race winner qualifies third for the Gran Prix of San Marino, while a late crash deprives Marquez from a front row grid spot.
Alex Rins and Alex Marquez demonstrated that they will be protagonists in tomorrow’s Moto3 race as both riders were among the fastest in Moto3. The two qualified third and fourth, respectively, despite a fall by Marquez in the final minutes that prevented him from improving his time in the last laps.
After a day of rain yesterday, bright sunshine shone on the second day of testing at Misano. The final session of the day saw Rins and Marquez among the quickest, verifying the pace they found the day before in the rain they also can produce on dry tarmac. The final qualifying session featured Marquez leading the session, heading the time table until the five minutes to go, with a time of 1:43.163.
In the last five minutes of the session, Marquez crashed in the first corner, preventing him from any further time improvements. Meanwhile, teammate Rins and Jack Miller –who ultimately took pole– overtook Marquez on the timesheet. Niklas Ajo also took advantage of the crash by following the wheel of Rins and launching himself into second on the grid, relegating the Spaniard to third place on the front row of the grid, just ahead of Marquez who will head up the second row.
Tomorrow’s Moto3 race returns to its regular schedule at 11:00 CET.
Alex Rins >> Audio
3rd, 1’43.012 sec, 33 laps, 139 Km.
“Today went pretty well, I felt comfortable on the bike. I had a good pace this afternoon, but if I had a rider to follow, perhaps I could have improved even more using a slipstream. The important thing is that riding alone, we have a good pace. Tomorrow there will have to be a break at the start, to help reduce the group, and then later I can think about the bike. I hope for a good race and especially that we have a good strategy”.
Alex Marquez >> Audio
4th, 1’43.163 sec, 31 laps, 131 Km.
“I think today was a good day. We were able to ride in the dry, and that’s important. In the morning we were quite strong and in the qualifying session we improved the time from the beginning. We were improving lap after lap, but then I crashed at the very end and that stopped me from fighting for pole. Anyway, we were one tenth behind and tomorrow we can improve a bit –the bike as well as my riding– in a few areas of the circuit. I think we’re going in the right direction and despite the crash, I’m happy”.
