Moto2 World Championship leader claims second best time in qualifying for Indianapolis Grand Prix
The duel between Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró in the Moto2 class is being repeated race after race, session after session. In the fight to take the highest spot on the grid for tomorrow’s race, the Repsol rider even managed to break the circuit record, although in the end he lost out to his fellow Spaniard by 0.231.
In the morning, Márquez took the third fastest lap of the morning session, again just behind Espargaró and this time Scott Redding, who was 59 thousandths of a second slower than Espargaró. Márquez was only 94 thousandths of a second down on the top lap time in the session. The Repsol rider undertook 20 laps, recording his best time on the 17th of those: 1’43.494.
Looking for pole position, he began qualifying with a bang, breaking the circuit record within 5 laps. Whilst his time of 1’42.833 was an impressive one, he was unable to improve upon it over the course of the session and he was eventually pipped to pole by Espargaró.
The scene is set and both riders will be side-by-side tomorrow, in the latest round of the Moto3 season. It all starts at 6.20pm, European time.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:43.494, 20 laps, 84 km.
QP – 1:42.833, 17 laps, 72 km.
“We had a great session, although in the end we just missed out on pole. The most positive thing is that on both the first and second stint we were focusing on race pace, found a good time and were comfortable on the bike. On the last run we put on a new tyre in order to try and drop the times further, but then there was too much traffic about and I didn’t feel as good. The important thing for tomorrow is that we have a good pace and a good setting, and we are ready to fight for the win.”
