Rain disappears after wet morning and Repsol rider takes second row spot. Oliveira puts in ninth best time, Álex Rins grabs tenth and Álex Márquez eighteenth.
After the rainfall of the past few days, in the end the qualifying session for the Aragon Grand Prix was undertaken on a dry track. The grid for tomorrow’s Moto3 race was thus decided over the course of the afternoon shootout, with Maverick Viñales lining up on the far side of the second row after clocking the sixth fastest time. He will be one row ahead of Miguel Oliveira, who took ninth. Álex Rins was tenth in the afternoon session, just over a second behind poleman Jonas Folger. Álex Márquez was unable to maintain his feel from the wet practices, and will start from eighteenth tomorrow.
On the second day of practice for the Repsol riders at MotorLand Aragón, conditions began much like on Friday. The track was completely wet due to an overnight downpour and temperatures did not exceed 16 degrees. Álex Rins was third in the morning run, with Oliveira sixth, Álex Márquez ninth and Maverick Viñales eleventh.
After final practice sessions for the MotoGP and Moto2 fields, the track had dried enough to permit the Moto3 competitors to put on slick tyres. The Repsol riders looked strong from the start, with Rins, Oliveira and Márquez up at the front and Viñales taking things more calmly. He was setting up his bike for race day, but put in a fast enough lap to take sixth place on the grid. Miguel Oliveira and Álex Rins start from ninth and tenth, respectively, whilst Márquez will be eighteenth for the start in Aragon.
Maverick Viñales >> Audio
FP3 – 2:14.924, 15 laps, 76 km.
QP – 2:02.362, 16 laps, 81 km.
“It was the first session that we had in the dry and it helped us to regain our feeling and prepare for tomorrow’s race. Given that we were testing many things during the session, sixth place is not a bad position. I’m happy, because at the last race I started from eleventh —today we have made a step forward. Starting from the second row, if I make a good start at this circuit I know that it is easier to overtake here. I still need to improve the setup of the bike, especially the chassis, so we know what we have to work on tomorrow in the warm-up. Hopefully I can give my all in the race, make the most of the twisty sections to try establish a gap and make sure that I can’t be caught on the straights.”
Miguel Oliveira >> Audio (port)
FP3 – 2:13.495, 13 laps, 66 km.
QP – 2:02.571, 17 laps, 86 km.
“I was really eager to ride in the dry at on this track and, after this session, we can face tomorrow’s race with a good feeling. We had, like all the other riders, too little time to make adjustments to the bike, but in the end we managed to have a good session. We are not very far off, but I’d prefer to be a little higher up the order. We will need a good start and to latch on to the leaders. We still have room for improvement on the stability of the front end, so I hope that during the warm-up we can resolve some issues. The first part of the circuit is demanding, whilst on the second part we should make greater use of slipstreaming.”
Álex Rins >> Audio
FP3 – 2:13.335, 15 laps, 76 km.
QP – 2:02.763, 17 laps, 86 km.
“We started well, but over the course of the session we had some problems with the bike that affected our performance. Anyway, we have room for improvement and tomorrow, during the warm-up, we will try to resolve these small issues. We need to make a good start to make contact with the leaders as soon as possible, because as always there will be groups formed. ”
Álex Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:14.578, 16 laps, 81 km.
QP – 2:03.635, 16 laps, 81 km.
“In the morning we did a good job, and we had a good feeling with the bike. In the afternoon the track dried out and, although we had a good base at this circuit from the Spanish Championship, we could not finish the job. We lacked that little bit that would have allowed us a place higher up the grid. We have some issues to polish, but I have a good feeling for the race tomorrow.”
