The Repsol Honda Team riders completed the ninth qualifying session of the season this Saturday, with the Spaniard tenth fastest and stand-in competitor Stefan Bradl 21st.
As happened on Friday, the second day of the Catalan Grand Prix was held under completely sunny skies and amidst high temperatures.
In the first Free Practice session of the day, Espargaró made the cut for Q2, finishing among the ten fastest riders. In the afternoon, the Repsol Honda Team man recorded a best lap of 1:39.477, on his sixth lap, to earn tenth. He will head the fourth row of the grid.
Bradl would have to go into Q1, and in that session his 1:40.298 time would earn him eleventh, not allowing him to advance to Q2.
The German will start from the seventh row of the grid, in 21st place.
POL ESPARGARÓ – 10th 1’39.477
“FP3 was quite good for us, even with the crash. Already we knew that the afternoon would be harder for and I wasn’t able to be faster. I was losing most of my time braking into Turn 1, this is where my time went. Tenth was the best we could do finally in Qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be a tricky race; we will need to use the harder tyres and try to manage them – like everyone. The change in temperature is not a lot so finally the track will be greasy like today. Let’s see what happens and no matter what we will try out best for the home fans here!”
STEFAN BRADL – 21st 1’40.298
“We improved a little bit over yesterday and I avoided any mistakes. This morning I struggled a bit to find speed in qualifying mode but in Q1 we made a step and improved our position. Still, we are building our speed and this is where we are at the moment. Our plan for the race is to manage the tyres and the situation, the main goal is to finish the race and learn what we can. I am not setting a specific target for the race, just to be with the others.”
