Alex Rins second in qualifying for Catalan GP, whilst teammate Alex Marquez takes his best ever World Championship grid position with fourth.
The grid for tomorrow’s Moto3 race will see both Repsol riders high up the order. Alex Rins was second quickest in qualifying for the sixth round of the championship, with Alex Marquez fourth.
In the morning practice session, Rins signalled his intentions with the fastest lap. In the afternoon he was a frontrunner from the start, exchanging the top spot with Maverick Viñales. Just past the halfway point in the session, the young protégé of Emilio Alzamora jumped up to first, almost until the end. However, he eventually placed second, as Luis Salom took pole right at the death.
Alex Marquez continued his progress in the World Championship. After a great performance at the Italian Grand Prix, the Spaniard today hit a personal milestone; qualifying fourth, Marquez will start from his highest position on the grid for a GP event.
Alex Rins >> Audio
FP3: 1:51.450, 15 laps, 71 km.
QP: 1:51.108, 18 laps, 85 km.
“We are very happy with the pace that we had during qualifying. We focused on riding on our own at a fast pace; yesterday we found the right setup for the race and that allowed us to get some good practice in today. I think that tomorrow’s race will be rather difficult, bearing in mind the heat and the amount of riders on track. We will have to ride a thinking man’s race.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
FP3: 1:51.988, 15 laps, 71 km.
QP: 1:51.668, 18 laps, 85 km.
“The feeling today was very good. In the morning we took a step forward and in the afternoon we were hoping to improve a little more, although in the end we took fourth position. That is very good, but we still need to polish up a few things in the warmup tomorrow, because I still don’t feel completely comfortable. I think that we have a good pace with worn tyres and we have a good race ahead. I want to thank the team for all of their work, because it is helping me a lot and we are gradually making the bike very competitive.”
