Winner of the last two races, Alex Rins to start from head of grid on Sunday. Alex Marquez places sixth despite qualifying crash.
The last two times that the young protégé of Emilio Alzamora has take pole –in Germany and Indianapolis– he has won the race. Alex Rins, in his second season in the Moto3 World Championship, currently holds three wins, three second places and two thirds, in addition to pole at half of the circuits at which he has competed: Austin, Jerez, Sachsenring, Indianapolis and, as of today, Brno. His teammate, Alex Marquez, placed second in Indianapolis last week and today had a more dramatic qualifying session than Rins, finishing sixth after suffering a crash in the final moments.
Third fastest this morning in the third practice session, with Marquez in sixth, Alex Rins started qualifying by quickly setting the best time. The Repsol rider remained there for almost the entire session and topped it off with a fast lap on the thirteenth of fifteen completed, leaving second placed rival Maverick Viñales more than half a second behind.
On the other side of the garage, Alex Marquez also had a good start to the qualifying session –showing excellent pace. However, moving up to fourth with 8 minutes remaining, he fell at Turn 11 with three minutes still on the clock. That ended his chances of improving his position, but he will start from sixth place and the second row tomorrow.
Alex Rins >> Audio
FP3 – 2:08.271, 15 laps, 81 km.
QP – 2:07.622, 15 laps, 81 km.
“Today went very well for us. I think that we had a really good qualifying session, despite the nervous moments that you have at this track with everyone chasing a tow. When I rode alone I was able to go fast and I tried to push on my hot lap. It ended up working out for me. We have good pace for the race and I expect it to run in groups like always this season. The smartest rider will be the one who wins. Also, rain is predicted for the race.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:08.433, 15 laps, 81 km.
QP – 2:08.649, 15 laps, 81 km.
“The second day of practice wasn’t all bad. In the morning we had a very good pace, I rode alone and am very comfortable at this track. In the qualifying session it was a little difficult at the start, with so much traffic on track. I also crashed at the end, which didn’t allow me to improve my times; I think I could have gone quicker. The second row isn’t too bad, so we will have to be focused for tomorrow and give 100% in the race. The pace of the top riders is fairly even, although Rins had an excellent lap in qualifying. In the race we will try to make a difference in the final moments, as I think there will be a large group right up until then.”
