Frenchman sets fifth fastest time, his teammate the ninth, and Maria Herrera the twenty-third.
Indianapolis today held the third free practice session and the qualifying session for Sunday’s race, with Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Navarro securing places on the second and third row of the grid, respectively. Maria Herrera also improved during the second day and will start from the eighth row.
In the morning free practice session, Navarro felt very comfortable on the American track. He set the second fastest time behind Danny Kent, with teammate Quartararo eighth and Herrera twenty-sixth.
The qualifying session brought many crashes due to a rise in track temperature, which made the surface more slippery. Navarro suffered several scares, but was ultimately able to save them. Times continued to fall and the three Repsol riders responded with faster lap times. Quartararo set the fifth quickest lap, 0.359s off poleman Kent. Navarro was ninth, 0.483s off the top, and Herrera went twenty-third.
Fabio Quartararo
5th – 1:41.062, 34 laps, 142 km
“In the morning session we didn’t put on new tyres, because we prefered to use them yesterday to better learn the circuit ‒although today the track was in much better condition. In the afternoon it was quite hot and the track was slippery, but I managed it well and had a good pace. We will try to improve because Kent is a bit ahead of us. I think the race tomorrow will be in a large group, because there are many riders with very similar times.”
Jorge Navarro
9th – 1:41.186, 33 laps, 138 km
“I woke up today feeling better and, after the knocks I suffered yesterday, both my elbow and foot bothered me less; on the bike I didn’t noticed them. In the third free practice we focused on riding with used tyres and we managed to maintain a good pace. In the qualifying session I started on used tyres and again rode quickly. When we put the new rubber on I was a bit hasty and I wanted to push too hard. I had a couple of fairly serious scares, so I stopped in the pits, had a breather and went back out on track. I was able to ride well again, although I encountered traffic on the two fastest laps I did and the end result is not what we wanted. Still, we will be on the third row. It’s not a bad position ‒and I think that with the pace we have, if I start well tomorrow I can have a good race.”
Maria Herrera
23rd – 1:41.847, 31 laps, 129 km
“At first we went out on new tyres, to see what pace we had. I tried to stay in a group, though it was not very fast and I decided to ride alone. At the end of the session we put the soft tyre on to set a time for the grid, and I out myself amongst a group of several fast riders such as Oliveira. I managed to do a good lap, although it was difficult to improve it later because there were many riders looking for a reference. I am feeling stronger than I was this morning and I hope to make a good start to the race, which is what matters, to put myself in a good group and go forward.”
