PULL&BEAR ASPAR Team MotoGP - 03 Americas GP - QP

2017-04-22 14:38
In five editions of the Grand Prix of the Americas, only one man has been on pole position. Marc Márquez took his fifth consecutive pole at the Circuit of the Americas in the final moment of the qualifying session, under the chequered flag and snatching the spot from Maverick Viñales. The two were the only riders capable of going round in under 2:03, and will be accompanied on the front row by Valentino Rossi -9 tenths back. Dani Pedrosa, Johann Zarco and Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo will occupy the second row of the grid, for a 21-lap race that will start at 2pm local time.

The Pull&Bear Aspar team will have to attempt a fightback at the Grand Prix Of The Americas, in order to continue adding points to their tally. Karel Abraham and Álvaro Bautista will start from the sixth and seventh rows of the grid, respectively, meaning they will need to overtake other riders to enter into the points. Abraham took 17th position on the grid after setting a best time of 2:05.931. He was riding with problems with his ankle, meniscus and neck, and was satisfied with his result considering his condition. Bautista's time of 2:06.295 put him nineteenth on the grid.



17th Karel Abraham 2:05.931 (6 laps): "In the morning I didn't know how the day would go; I didn't not know if my foot would be OK or not. Unfortunately, I have problems with my meniscus and my neck as well, and it hurts when I'm on the bike. In any case, I can ride. I took painkillers for qualifying. I'm happy with seventeenth position, which in these conditions is very good. Tomorrow will be a tough race; this morning many riders crashed. Besides that, I don't feel 100 percent fit. I want to be able to have a good race. I still get angry thinking about the crash yesterday, but sometimes these things happen and we have to accept it."

19th Álvaro Bautista 2:06.295 (6 laps): "Yesterday I explained that the feeling I had was better than the result. Today, and I don't know if it was because of the track conditions or something else, but the morning didn't go well. We crashed without really knowing the reason for it. On the first lap, I noticed that I had lower grip than yesterday. I tried to heat the tyres up, and at Turn 2 I lost the front. If the conditions were right, then you'd go in there at more or less the same speed, but the grip was much lower. In the afternoon, I didn't feel comfortable. We suffered a bit, and we have been looking at the data. In the warmup tomorrow we will look for something that will help me achieve more tyre contact with the track. I find it hard to warm the tyres up and they feel cold, but I can't heat them up because I can't push -because I can't get them in contact with the track enough. It's a vicious circle. We hope the temperature will help us tomorrow too. It has been one of my most difficult days on the Ducati."

Source: AsparTeam

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