The Repsol rider will start tomorrow’s race from fifth on the grid. Teammate Sena Yamada will start from row eight (23rd) and Maria Herrera from row nine (27th).
In a busy and competitive qualifying session, Jorge Navarro secured a second row start position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Aragon. The Repsol rider, who demonstrated that he is very competitive throughout the weekend, lowered his times during today’s qualifying session to a 1:58.444, just 689 thousandths from the Italian Bastianini, the Moto3 pole position sitter.
In this small category where slipstreaming and following other riders can drastically affect starting position, Sena Yamada was not able to find a clean lap while working with teammate Navarro. He set a time of 1 minute, 59 seconds and 398 thousandths, just over a second and a half behind the fastest rider on the long Aragon circuit, and will start tomorrow from the twenty third position. Maria Herrera will start from one row back in twenty seventh, 1.808 seconds from pole position after a positive third free practice where she made positive steps with bike feedback in preparation for tomorrow.
With the grid decided, the fourteenth round of the season will take place tomorrow at 11:00 CET
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Jorge Navarro:
5th, 1:58.444 seg, 32 laps, 162 km.
“I’m happy because I did my job well, I felt good on the bike and had a good pace, so I think we’re ready for tomorrow’s race. Today we weren’t able to make a perfect lap, as we did at Silverstone, but I didn’t have a slipstream to give me the push needed to lose a few tenths. I got behind some people who were slow, but I’m satisfied with the work we have done. I’m confident that we can have a good race tomorrow. We will see if others have the pace, but I know my pace is good and the goal is to be in the leading group and try to fight for the podium or a victory here at home.”
Sena Yamada:
23rd, 1:59.398, 30 laps, 152 km.
“This morning in free practice we tested some changes to the set-up that didn’t work as expected, so in the afternoon we returned to the set-up of yesterday and we improved. We tried to use teamwork but traffic was heavy and the last two outings we could not manage it. But overall, with the team, I was able to improve both in my riding and the bike settings. I’m happy with the result but we have to improve more for the race tomorrow. We start from behind, but will try to recover and get up in the points; It will be very difficult but I will give the maximum and above all, hope to continue learning from this experience in the World Championship.”
Maria Herrera:
27th, 1:59.563 seg, 32 laps, 162 km.
“We made a step forward, the bike is quite good and we are on the right track. Tomorrow we will have to improve some things, but I’m happy. We resolved the problems that we had yesterday and now I feel more comfortable with the bike. We didn’t get a good position; there were riders on the track that hindered us. When I was on my best lap I went all out but couldn’t continue with the same pace. Tomorrow I hope to gain positions and be in the points.”
