Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Navarro produce good performances in the first qualifying session of the year. Maria Herrera improves her pace and ends thirty-second.
Under the floodlights of the Losail circuit in Qatar, Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Navarro made another excellent showing in qualifying on Saturday. The duo finished very close to the best times in the Moto3 class, in the first grid-deciding session of the season. The Frenchman set the sixth fastest time, just 0.123s off fellow countryman and Losail poleman Alexis Masbou. Teammate Navarro was twelfth, 4 tenths of a second off Masbou. Maria Herrera also took a step forward with her times, placing thirty-second fastest.
Throughout the qualifying session, both Quartararo and Navarro fought for the top positions on a timesheet in which the first 17 riders were separated by less than 1 second. Quartararo lowered his times from yesterday by 3 tenths, with a best of 2:06.293 and taking sixth for his debut start. Navarro also improved from yesterday, by almost half a second, and will start tomorrow from the fourth row of the grid in twelfth.
Maria Herrera is accumulating experience with caution in her first outing as a full-time World Championship rider; Losail is a particularly difficult and unique circuit on the calendar. Today she lowered her best time from yesterday by almost a second and will start tomorrow from 32nd on the grid.
Tomorrow sees the first Moto3 race of the 2015 season open up the night’s action.
Fabio Quartararo
6th – 2:06.293, 16 laps, 86 km
“I am very happy, because we have done a good job in our first qualifying session in the World Championship. Jorge [Navarro] and I helped each other out a lot, but we lacked a bit of experience to better use the slipstreams. It’s my first Grand Prix and I have still got a lot to learn, but I’m happy because I have a very good pace and this will help me in the race. We have worked well during practice and I think the tyres will hold up well and enable us to maintain a fast pace. I think the race will be fun and do not think any rider will be able to escape; a group will be formed amongst the riders fighting for the win.”
Jorge Navarro
12th – 2:06.574, 16 laps, 86 km
“We all know that at a circuit like this the last few minutes of a qualifying session are crazy, because every rider is trying to find a slipstream and gain a few tenths. We had a very good pace throughout the session and I think we put in a pretty good time, but perhaps we lacked the finishing touches to do a perfect lap which would have allowed us to move up a few rows. In any case, I’m happy because we have progressed from the first day, gradually reducing the gap to the front. Although I am twelfth, in this class you get some very large groups and anything can happen. The bike is working well and I think we’re ready to have a good race.”
Maria Herrera
32nd – 2:09.431, 16 laps, 86 km
“Today we improved by more than as second, which is pretty good. We cannot lower our time by three seconds straight away, we have to work hard, and I’m psyched up to start stronger next time we have free practice in order to get better prepared for the qualifying session. This is what we have been missing here at the first Grand Prix. I hope to continue taking steps forward in the warmup tomorrow and keep learning in the race. I have been looking forward to the first race, although there will be some nerves at the start.”
