Very close qualifying at Jerez

2017-05-06 10:01
For the second consecutive day, three riders from the same manufacturer occupied the top three places on the MotoGP timesheets. Just 49 thousandths of a second separated poleman Dani Pedrosa from teammate Marc Márquez, after a last attempt in Q2 in which the latter was unable to best the 1:38.249 marker. Next to them on the grid will be Cal Crutchlow, who finished third, two tenths off the top. Maverick Viñales, Andrea Iannone and Johann Zarco will start from the second row, while current World Championship leader Valentino Rossi is seventh.

Álvaro Bautista will begin his home Grand Prix from the sixth row of the grid, after struggling to set a good fast lap. The Pull&Bear Aspar rider did, however, put in a good pace during the fourth free practice session, so the first laps of the race will be key to establishing his possibilities at the Spanish Grand Prix. Karel Abraham will head the seventh row of the grid at the Spanish round. The Czech is still sore from the injury he suffered at Austin, which -coupled with the short time he has spent on track due to yesterday's weather conditions and a technical problem with his bike- has delayed his progress this weekend.



17th Álvaro Bautista 1:39.462: "My pace in FP4 was very good, but we have to improve our fast lap. In FP4 we made a small change to the bike to give better rear grip and be able to corner better. My pace was good and quite realistic, with tyres that had 25 laps in them at the end. However, when we put new tyres on I had trouble turning the bike in and I was fighting with it to get a good lap. Starting from the back of the grid complicates everything because you spend a lot of time trying to gain places. I will try to make a good start, although everything will depend on the first few laps."

19th Karel Abraham 1:39.678: "We aren't having much luck, because this morning in one of the first outings on track the bike had another technical problem. The good thing is that we know what it is and we will solve it. Then, with the other bike, we tried a couple of things, but we needed more time on track. In the afternoon, in FP4, we decided to only do one stint of seven or eight laps and check that everything was ready for qualifying. I gave my all and the bike went quite well, but I think on my best lap I was at the limit at all times, getting the most from the bike. We will look at the data to see where we can improve our times and be more consistent. If we had been able to ride for all the time we had initially planned, maybe we could have improved a couple of positions. My ankle and knee hurt a lot yesterday; today I have taken painkillers and they have helped me."

Source: AsparTeam

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