Repsol rider takes sixth pole of the year and shares front row with teammate, third. Maria Herrera will begin her first GP from 31st.
Alex Rins shone on Saturday at MotorLand, taking the Moto3 pole position with a spectacular time. The accolade is he Repsol rider’s sixth pole of the season so far, and came as he was the only rider to break the 1’59s barrier in qualifying. His fellow Spaniard, Maverick Viñales, was 7 tenths behind. Third on the grid goes to Alex Marquez, who pushed until the last of his 16 afternoon laps to set his best time of the day. Debutant Maria Herrera undertook her first qualifying session in the World Championship, placing 31st.
Morning rain made the opening session of the day an uneven affair, with the track still drying out gradually. Rins and Marquez took things with caution, putting in just 3 and 7 laps, respectively, whilst Herrera added kilometres to the clock.
In qualifying, Rins was simply on another level. After slotting into the top three for the majority of the session, the Spaniard used his penultimate lap to set a phenomenal 1’58.571. That was just over 1.2s better than his morning time, and enough to give him pole position. Marquez placed third, 7 tenths off his teammate, and Herrera will start her first World Championship race from the eleventh row of the grid. She was 31st in her maiden qualifying session.
Alex Rins >> Audio
FP3 – 2:11.377, 3 laps, 15 km.
QP – 1:58.571, 15 laps, 76 km.
“Qualiying went very well for me. I felt very comfortable on the bike, right from the start, and was able to keep a consistent pace going during the session. I also had a little luck, because on the two final laps I came up to a group of riders and was able to catch their slipstream. We will have a difficult race tomorrow and it will resemble Misano; it will be a contest between a small group at the front.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:10.912, 7 laps, 36 km.
QP – 1:59.282, 16 laps, 81 km.
“Qualifying went rather well. I wasn’t expecting a front row start, because yesterday we had problems and I wasn’t completely clear about things. This morning, even though it was wet, we took a big step forward. I felt comfortable on the bike, and this is important for if it rains tomorrow. I think we need to work on a few details in the dry, but I believe that we can be up in the lead group. We will try to get a good start in order to do that, then see where we can end up.”
Maria Herrera >> Audio
FP3 – 2:14.241, 12 laps, 61 km.
QP – 2:02.194, 17 laps, 86 km.
“During the morning session I focused on finding a good feeling with the bike in the wet –as I hadn’t had that in the Spanish Championship here. So now we are ready to ride in the wet. In qualifying everybody started out quickly. It was a little different to what I am used to in the CEV Repsol and I need to learn from this for the future. In GP you ride at 100% from the off. I had some trouble lowering my times, so tomorrow we still need to perfect a few things. If we can improve our lines, then that will serve us well.”
