Alex Marquez 0.081s off Jack Miller’s pole position time. Rins will start from the fourth row.
After the second day of practice for the Indianapolis Grand Prix with the qualifying session completed, the Repsol Moto3 riders will tomorrow occupy a place on the front row of the grid –Alex Marquez– and the fourth –Alex Rins. Today the weather was favourable for the riders and the sesions were carried out without rain interruptions. Alex Marquez came close to claiming the pole position finally taken by Jack Miller, and Rins improved his feeling to move up to twelfth.
Despite a morning crash in the third practice session at Turn 11, when he lost front grip, Alex Marquez will take off from the front row tomorrow in Indianapolis. His best time of 1:40.808 gave him third on the grid.
Alex Rins, who is not looking particularly comfortable at the American track where he won the race last year, improved steadily over this second day of action to earn a spot on the fourth row of the grid. He will start from the fourth row after setting the twelfth best lap, 6 tenths off Miller’s time.
The Moto3 race will be held this Sunday morning from 11am local time.
Álex Rins >> Audio
12th, 1:41.387 sec., 37 laps, 154 km
“We have taken a step forward but not enough to get onto the first few rows. We need to find a little more pace. Slipstreams are important for a good time, and we were riding alone in the end. We tried to improve the times from the morning and we did that, but we still have plenty of room for improvement. If we make a good start, then maybe I can catch the leading group –which would be the most important thing. It will be a large group, because with such a long straight I don’t think anyone can escape. Still, we must improve our pace”.
Álex Márquez >> Audio
3rd, 1:40.808 sec., 36 laps, 150 km
“I think we should be optimistic for tomorrow, because all day long we have taken small steps forward in the qualifying session and we were fighting for pole position from the outset. Finally it eluded us and we start from third. Everything is very tight, so the first few laps of the race tomorrow –and the last few ones– will be very important. On the opening laps we will try to escape in a small group, and on the final laps we will have to make sure our tyres are in good shape; the new asphalt seems to degrade the rubber a lot. We must be vigilant from the start and very focused”.
