Spaniard the best of the Repsol riders in Moto3 qualifying and will take off from seventh, with Fabio Quartararo in sixteenth place and Maria Herrera twenty-fourth.
The second day of practice for the Grand Prix of Rep. Argentina finished with further progress for the Repsol riders in the Moto3 class. After the final practice session in the morning, the trio took on the qualifying session to decide the grid for Sunday’s race. Jorge Navarro placed seventh, 7 tenths off the pole time set by Miguel Oliveira. Fabio Quartararo was sixteenth fastest, just over a second down, and Maria Herrera was twenty-fourth –less than 1.5 seconds off the poleman.
In the third free practice session, Quartararo was the fourth fastest rider at what is a new track for him this weekend. The Frenchman was only half a second down on the rider topping the session, Danny Kent, but in qualifying he was unable to match his morning lap. A tenth off his best time from FP3, Quartararo set a 1:49.567 lap which put him sixteenth on the grid. Times were close in the session, as he was just 1.106s slower than poleman Oliveira. Jorge Navarro moved up from ninth place in the third free practice to seventh in qualifying, with a time of 1:49.202. Also continuing to take steps forward was Maria Herrera, who ended the day with a time of 1:49.866 –just 1.405s from pole position.
The third race of the Moto3 World Championship takes place tomorrow at 13:00h local time.
Fabio Quartararo
16th – 1:49.567, 32 vueltas, 154 km.
“It was a bit of a difficult qualifying session, but the important thing is that we have a pace of 1’49. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow in the race; I hope to keep up with the pace of the riders at the front. Jorge [Navarro] and I tried to work together, but we have not got enough experience yet; we will gradually improve in this aspect as well this season.”
Jorge Navarro
7th – 1:49.202, 35 vueltas, 168 km.
“In the morning we were working to improve my feeling with the bike, and we took a step forward with both our pace and our fastest lap. In the qualifying session the important thing was to get a good hot lap, which I think we did. I think that starting from seventh position is good. Tomorrow in the warmup we will continue to improve some adjustments to the setup, but I think that we are ready for the race.”
Maria Herrera
24th – 1:49.866, 36 vueltas, 173 km.
“We had a strategy in order to try to improve and it worked out well. In the qualifying session we went out on track behind a group, as might happen in the race. I felt quite comfortable and I set my best time. At the end of the session I was on course to lower my best time, but another rider got in my way in the last sector and I couldn’t place in the Top 20, which is what I was aiming to do. However, I think we’re close and tomorrow we can fight for a good result.”
