The Repsol rider added another World Championship pole position to his tally, setting a strong pace on the second day of practice. His teammate Alex Marquez, who took the sixth fastest time, assured himself a start from the second row of the grid.
Alex Rins dominated qualifying today at the Circuit of the Americas, the scene of today’s second day of practice. The Repsol rider set the fastest time of the day, which will see him head the grid for the second time in his World Championship career –the first being at the Spanish GP in Jerez last year–, with his teammate Alex Marquez starting from the second row, in sixth position.
In the third free practice session it was clear for all to see that Rins had gotten to grips with the American circuit, on which he’d steadily improved his feeling and the setup of his KTM, and from the start he was at the top of the leader board. In free practice he set a time of 2’17.260, further dropping it to 2’16.396 in the qualifying session. His teammate, who was 19th in the free practice session after an early crash prevented him from continuing, bounced back to a 6th grid position –only 2.199 seconds behind the pole time.
Tomorrow will see the second Moto3 race of the year, at 11:00 local time (18:00 CET)
Alex Rins >> Audio
“I am delighted to have achieved the second pole of my career. But let’s not forget that the points are won tomorrow. Today we set a good pace, but the race is sure to be very tough, since Salom and Viñales are pushing hard. Tomorrow we will try to take a good team approach, with the aim of being able to break away together and, if that is not possible, fight for the podium.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
“The qualifying session went pretty well, considering that in the morning we had a crash that delayed our work a little. We took a step forward and I’ve improved some of my lines. In the end I secured sixth position, which is not bad. I believe that in the morning warmup we can continue to improve the bike with the team, and be as prepared as possible for the race.”
