Dixon just shy of repeating second row start at MotorLand Aragón
. By Bikeland Staff
PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Jake Dixon came within a hair’s breadth of repeating his second row qualifying feat from last weekend at MotorLand Aragón today. Instead, it will be a seventh place start for Dixon tomorrow, while a Q1 crash for Xavi Vierge means he will line up 22nd.
Dixon started the day well, after setting a 1min 52.086secs lap around the Spanish circuit in FP3, which put him tenth overall and secured him a Q2 slot. The Brit showed good pace in qualifying and it looked like a front row start was on the cards. However, a mistake in the second sector left Jake with a 1min 51.780secs lap, just 0.004secs shy of the second row, which will see him start from seventh on the grid.
Team-mate Vierge was unlucky to miss out on a direct to Q2 space, after setting a 1min 52.240secs lap in FP3 – just 0.030secs shy of 14th place. The Spaniard experienced some unexpected rear grip problems in Q1, and an unfortunate Turn 1 crash in the final minutes of the session prevented him from going through to Q2. With a best time of 1min 52.479secs, Xavi will start tomorrow’s race 22nd.
Warm Up for the Moto2 riders will begin at 10.20am local time (5.20pm MYT) tomorrow, with the 21-lap race taking place at 2.30pm local time (9.30pm MYT) – after the MotoGP race.
Jake Dixon
7th (1'51.780)
I’m actually not satisfied with qualifying seventh today. I made a mistake on my second lap with the soft tyre and it cost me two tenths in the second sector. We could have potentially been on the front row with this lap, however it’s all ifs and buts. At the end of the day it didn’t happen. I do feel good on the bike though. We need to decide what we’re going to do tomorrow, whether we go with the soft tyre or the harder one. We’ll have to see what happens, I just wish I knew now which is going to be the best! The aim for tomorrow will be to improve again and bring home another good result.