Alex Rins confirms strong form at MotorLand Aragon with fastest time in qualifying session. Alex Marquez, just 0.192s behind, will start from fifth.
Yesterday he led the first day of practice. Today Alex Rins went quickest in the qualifying session for the Aragon Grand Prix. The Repsol rider and winner of the last two races –who last year was victorious at MotorLand Aragon– will start tomorrow from pole position. Teammate Alex Marquez will be close behind in fifth, having missed out on the front row by just 0.040s.
This morning Rins and Marquez were second and third, respectively, in the last practice session of the weekend. In the subsequent 40-minute qualifying run, Rins set the fastest time of 1:58.318 and Marquez was 0.192s slower. The latter will start from fifth on the grid, just behind Moto3 World Championship leader Jack Miller –who has a 9-point advantage in the standings. Marquez will attempt to cut points to the top spot for a fourth consecutive race.
Alex Rins >> Audio
1st, 1’58.318 sec, 31 laps, 157 Km.
“I am very motivated after seeing how practice went, because yesterday we had a good pace –although what matters is tomorrow’s race. It is in our hands, but it won’t be easy; because of the straight being so long, I don’t think that anybody will be able to escape and open a gap. I think that there will be a lot of riders together from the start, although we will try to push to reduce the front group. We could see a similar race to Brno or Mugello.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
5th, 1’58.510 sec, 32 laps, 162 Km.
“I ended up happy with the final free practice session, because we took the step forward that we had forecast yesterday –improving both the bike and our lines. In the afternoon, in qualifying, I was hoping for a bit more from the beginning but I found it a little tough –although in the end we managed to fix things fairly well. I think that the times are very close, so a second row start is positive, although in the warmup tomorrow we need to improve our race pace and be a little more consistent. Overall I am pretty satisfied.”
