FIM MotoGP World Championship
Motorland Aragon, Spain
September 26, 2015
Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
From Qualifying Two:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:46.635
2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:46.743
3. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 1:47.178
4. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:47.334
5. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:47.357
6. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:47.492
7. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:47.573
8. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (HONDA), 1:47.574
9. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:47.775
10. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:47.830
11. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 1:48.556
12. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:48.648
From Qualifying One:
13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:48.294
14. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 1:48.674
15. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (HONDA), 1:49.035
16. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (HONDA), 1:49.102
17. Stefan BRADL, Germany (APRILIA), 1:49.109
18. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (DUCATI), 1:49.253
19. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:49.426
20. Jack MILLER, Australia (HONDA), 1:49.436
21. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (APRILIA), 1:49.437
22. Loris BAZ, France (YAMAHA), 1:49.496
23. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), 1:49.761
24. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (ART-APRILIA), 1:50.134
25. Toni ELIAS, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:50.755
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken a magnificent pole position – his seventh of the season – for tomorrow’s Aragon GP breaking his 2014 pole record (1’47.187) by over half a second. Teammate Dani Pedrosa had a provisional front row for the majority of the session but was demoted in the final moments and will start from 5th place.
The Repsol Honda’s have had a strong second day in Aragon, with Marc leading this morning’s FP3 session and Dani topping FP4. On his first flying lap of qualifying, Marc obliterated his own pole record by 0.552 seconds with his time of 1’46.635 (lap 2/7), sending him straight to the top, with Dani also taking a provisional front row place on his first exit.
On their second exits, Marc was unable to improve but remained in the top spot, Dani improved with a time of 1’47.357 (lap 6/8) and remained in third place. Marc then came in for another new tyre but on his flying lap he lost the front in turn two and the bike ended up in the gravel. His time remained unbeaten and Marc celebrated his fifth pole in six appearances at Aragon. Unfortunately Dani was not able to improve and was knocked off the front row in the final moments of the session. He will start from the second row of the grid in 5th.
Tomorrow’s twenty three lap race will start at 14h00 local time.
Marc Marquez
1ST 1’46.635
“I did not expect that time on my first lap, and it was a nice surprise! With the second tyre I made a small mistake and could not improve it, and with the third I went too hard on the wrong corner and I had a small crash. This morning we made a big step forward with the setup and now we are more competitive. We will try to fight for victory from the first lap of the race tomorrow. I think we’ve done a great job and we are happy with this pole position.”
Dani Pedrosa
5TH 1’47.357
“Today we were able to improve the setup of the bike and our plan of which tyres to use in tomorrow’s race has become a little clearer. However in the qualifying session we had some problems; the front was stepping out a bit and I was close to crashing several times, which in the end prevented us from going as fast as we wanted. We will try to have a good start tomorrow to be in the battle from the beginning.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
Disappointment for Redding in Aragon qualifying
Aragon, Spain – 26 September 2015: Scott Redding will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Aragon from 14th position on the grid, after narrowly missing out on a place in the final qualifying shootout this afternoon.
The 22-year-old Briton was disappointed to finish only fourth in the first qualifying practice, as he felt he had a good feeling with the bike and went into the session certain he could challenge for a top two position and a place in the all-important QP2.
Redding has shown flashes of speed this weekend and is confident he is in good shape for tomorrow’s 23-lap MotoGP race, but his single lap pace wasn’t enough today to better the times of Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernandez, who made good use of the soft option tyre to top the timesheet.
Starting from the fifth row of the grid will make for a difficult race for Redding tomorrow, but having finished in the top six at the previous two rounds he is determined to fight his way through the field and achieve his goal of a top ten finish.
Scott Redding: 14th – 1’48.674
“The feeling is okay with the bike but, once again, the lap time just isn’t there. Sometimes I feel that we can get the lap time but not the rhythm. Here at Aragon I feel that we have the rhythm but the lap time definitely isn’t there. This is the most frustrating thing for me. I’ll have to see what happens in the race tomorrow but it’s frustrating when you should be going through to QP2 but you can’t. Starting from the fifth row makes things more difficult for tomorrow, but the race is long, so I need to see how things pan out.”
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“Qualifying was difficult. This morning when I saw the lap times that other people were doing compared to the times that we did I would say that this would have been one of the easier qualifying sessions of the year. I don’t know why it happened because Scott said that the bike was okay, other than he felt he was missing a little bit of power, so for me it was a bit strange and I’m not happy with this result because I was quite positive that we’d make it through to QP2 here at Aragon.”
More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:
Marquez annihilates Aragon lap record to seize seventh pole position in 2015
Round 14: Aragon MotoGP™ – Qualifying
MotorLand Aragon, Saturday September 26 2015
Bridgestone slick compounds: Front: Soft, Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft (Symmetric), Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: FP3 – Dry. Ambient 17-17°C; Track 18-23°C (Bridgestone measurement)
FP4/QP – Dry. Ambient 24-24°C; Track 35-38°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez beat his own Aragon Circuit Best Lap record by over half a second to take his seventh pole position of the season and maintain his perfect MotoGP™ qualifying record at MotorLand Aragon.
Marquez set the quickest ever lap around the Aragon circuit – a 1’46.635 – on his first flying lap in Qualifying Practice 2 which ultimately was good enough to ensure the reigning champion will start from the front of the grid for the third consecutive time at Aragon. Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider to get within half a second of Marquez’s time, his personal best lap time of 1’46.743 guaranteeing second place for the Spaniard. Rounding out the front row was Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone who despite suffering the effects of an injured shoulder, produced an impressive time of 1’47.178 to secure his fourth front row start of the season. All of the top three riders used the medium compound front slick for their time attack in qualifying but while Marquez and Lorenzo used the medium rear slick to set their best times, Iannone utilised the soft compound rear slick.
The riders were blessed with more sunny and fine conditions today which provided ample opportunity to test their favoured tyre combinations. As expected, the morning Free Practice 3 session experienced very cool track temperatures, but the sunshine helped the asphalt reach a peak temperature of 38°C during Qualifying Practice 1. The varied nature of the MotorLand Aragon circuit makes tyres that can provide a good balance of cornering grip, braking stability and temperature retention a valued commodity and accordingly, the medium compound front and rear slicks emerged as the favourite slick options during race simulations today. It is expected that the vast majority of riders will use this tyre combination for the race, although a number of open-class riders will likely opt for the soft compound rear slick for tomorrow’s twenty-three lap Aragon Grand Prix.
The next MotoGP session is tomorrow’s Warm Up session at 0940 local time (GMT+2) in which the teams and riders will have 20 minutes to confirm their tyre choice and bike setting for the race which gets underway at 1400.
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“Weather and track conditions today were almost the same as yesterday so the teams could build on the work they did yesterday using their preferred slick tyre combinations. We expected some riders to try the hard compound front slick in FP4 this afternoon, but the medium compound front slick is working so well the riders decided to concentrate on using this tyre during their race simulations. I expect that almost every rider will select the medium compound front slick for the race as it offers such a wide operating range at this technical circuit. The medium compound rear slick has also emerged as the preferred race option although the soft compound will be used by some open class entrants. It was pleasing to see Marquez beat the Aragon Circuit Best Lap record so comprehensively in qualifying and from fourteen rounds this year this was the tenth new outright lap record set. It is very exciting to see the riders extract maximum performance out of our 2015 specification slicks in qualifying and I hope we will also see a new Circuit Record Lap time set in the race tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
Yamaha Qualifies on First and Second Row in Aragón Time Attack
Alcañiz (Spain), 26th September 2015
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fought hard today in a tense qualifying session ahead of tomorrow‘s Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón. The teammates have displayed an impressive pace all weekend so far and didn‘t fail to deliver during the 15 minute qualifying heat.
Lorenzo was the second rider to clock a time this afternoon, putting down a 1‘47.080 to set the early pace at the front. He briefly held provisional pole before being pushed back one place. On a two-stop strategy, he was back in the pits to switch bikes with nine minutes of the session remaining and returned to the track a minute later.
He went on to improve his time but not his ranking with a 1‘46.743 and immediately returned to the box to swap bikes for a second time, with three minutes left to go.
When he was back out on track a minute later he had just enough time for a final time attack and didn‘t hesitate to put the hammed down. He dropped another 1‘46s lap and even rode a fastest fourth sector of the day, but remained in second place, 0.108s from pole, on the first row of the grid.
Teammate Valentino Rossi pushed to the limit during qualifying. The nine-time World Champion took a little while to get underway at the start of the session, allowing most of the traffic to leave before him. He entered a relatively empty track and was quick to fire off a 1‘48.039 for sixth before moving up one place with a 1‘47.652.
Rossi then returned to the pits with a little less than seven minutes on the clock for fresh rubber and was back out again with four and a half minutes remaining. Having dropped to seventh position he was determined to better his position and had two more chances to strive for a top position. He waited to the last minute and, dropping a final time of 1‘47.492 to take sixth on the grid, finished 0.857s from the front.
JORGE LORENZO
When I looked at my times I was very happy, because it‘s always difficult to fight for the pole position. Our rivals‘ bikes are probably a bit more explosive than the Yamaha and especially this track is usually better for them. To be able to be in the 1‘46.7 is unbelievable, we improved our old record here by more than a second, so I‘m very proud about that and happy with the work we‘ve done throughout the weekend and this particular lap. We need to improve the last details of the bike this afternoon for tomorrow, but in general I like it a lot how it behaves all around the track, so the team did a great job with the setting.
VALENTINO ROSSI
Today was a bit more difficult, especially in the afternoon, the morning was not so bad. My pace was also quite good, but with a higher temperature I suffered a lot with the tyres, because after some laps I slid too much and wasn‘t able to find the right rhythm, so we have to work and try to improve the balance so we can enter the corner with better braking. During tomorrow‘s warm up we will try to improve the setup and also the pace. My rivals are very fast, so this makes everything a bit more difficult but we will try.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
After two great practice sessions yesterday, today also went pretty well. As usual both Jorge and Vale gave 100 per cent today to qualify in the best position possible. Jorge again showed he is a force to be reckoned with and set several laps in the 1‘46. He will start tomorrow‘s race from the front row, which is important. Valentino also did a good job today and qualified on the second row. He will look to make a good start to the race tomorrow and join the fight at the front. We still have a couple of things to adjust on the bike this afternoon in order to be ready for the warm-up. It will be a challenging race tomorrow and we will give our all.
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
QUALIFYING AT ARAGON
SIXTH AND SEVENTH ROW FOR BRADL AND BAUTISTA’S APRILIAS
STEFAN REDEEMS HIMSELF IN QUALIFYING, GOOD RACE PACE FOR ALVARO
Circuito de Aragon (Spain), 26 September 2015 – Stefan Bradl will start the race from the sixth row in the fourteenth round of the MotoGP World Championship to be held at Motorland Aragon. In fact, the German Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rider finished Q1 with the seventh best time (1’49,109) which earns him the seventeenth overall time and the corresponding spot on the starting grid.
Alvaro Bautista, held up during the decisive session by a crash with no consequences for the rider, will start from the seventh row on the grid, after lapping in 1’49,437, giving him the eleventh best time in Q1 and the twenty-first overall time.
Throughout the weekend the riders worked tirelessly on race strategy, above all looking for consistent performance over race distance, which is why they are making no secret of their intentions to improve their positions in the race, as they have done often this season.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“Stefan reacted very well after being hindered in the morning session by problems with a new clutch part that, in the spirit of our season, we are testing here, but in the end we found a good direction to go for the race as well. Alvaro was penalised by a crash in qualifying but he has worked well throughout the weekend on race pace, so we are confident for the race.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“It’s a shame about Bautista’s crash at the beginning of the qualifying session. Alvaro could have had a very good Q1, but this obviously compromised his performance. Tomorrow he’ll have to get off the line well and come back during the race. Stefan ran into a few technical troubles but he reacted very well in the qualifiers, putting in a nice lap and giving it his own touch. Hopefully he’ll be luckier tomorrow in the race where we’ll be counting on him to bring home some points as well.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“At the beginning of the qualifiers I lost the front end braking hard at the first turn. It’s a shame because we worked very well both yesterday and today. We have a good pace for the race but after the crash I had to use the second bike and I wasn’t able to push as hard as I would have liked for my fast lap. Tomorrow we’ll be starting from the back, so we’ll need to make a good start of it in order to make up a few positions straight away, but we have a good race pace on used tyres and that is very important.”
STEFAN BRADL
“We’re happy with my qualifying despite being slowed down by technical problems and even in FP4 we didn’t have much time to work on the bike and do all the comparative tests that we had planned. In the afternoon we went back to using the old swingarm and in any case the grip situation on the rear improved, so we’ll keep using it tomorrow in the race. However, unfortunately we didn’t have the time we needed to fine tune the setup. So overall I’m happy with the performance in the qualifiers, where I felt very much at ease. Now we still have some work left to get ready for the race.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Superb front row result for Andrea Iannone, third in qualifying for Aragón GP. Dovizioso, thirteenth, starts from row 5
Andrea Iannone put in a superb run in qualifying for Sunday’s Aragón GP, setting third-quickest time to line up on the front row of the grid. The Ducati Team man had finished the morning’s FP3 session in fifth place, earning himself a direct passage into Q2. In the afternoon’s FP4 run, Iannone continued to improve with fourth place overall and then in qualifying, on his second exit with a soft rear tyre, he set a time of 1’47.178 which earned him third place on the grid and a front row slot for the 23-lap race, five-tenths off Marc Marquez’s pole mark.
Today proved to be a bit more difficult for Andrea Dovizioso, who in FP3 was unable to make the best of the soft rear tyre he fitted towards the end of the session, and he finished in eleventh place, which meant he had to take part in Q1. After a good performance in FP4, in which he finished fifth, the rider from Forlì tackled the first qualifying session. Unfortunately his best time of 1’48.294, third-quickest, was not sufficient to gain entry into Q2, and so Dovizioso finished the day in thirteenth place and will have to start from row 5 of the grid.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’47.178 (3rd)
“Today was rather a difficult day for me, but in the end also very satisfying. Before coming to Aragón, I was worried about the pain in my shoulder, but yesterday I was able to manage the situation by not using 100% of my strength, and as a result today I was able to push even harder, improving on each exit. We did an excellent job together with my team, with the intention of getting into qualifying. Tomorrow however it will be a tough race, but the positive thing is that I still haven’t used any pain-killers, and in any case I think that the Clinica Mobile will be able to help me. I want to thank the whole team and above all Gigi Dall’Igna for helping me to get this result today.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’48.294 (13th)
“It was a real pity today, because if we had managed to get into Q2 I think we could have been able to do a good qualifying session and get a place on the first three rows. I didn’t do a perfect lap in Q1 because in the first two corners the rear tyre gave me the impression that it wasn’t at the right temperature, even though I was sure I had bedded it in well. Sometimes you don’t get a perfect tyre, but even without this we could have got a better result even though I had the impression that my time was good enough to get into Q2. In FP4 we improved and our pace is now good enough for me to stay just behind the leading group. A better qualifying position would have been important, but now the only thing to do is to try and make up some places with a good start.”
More, from a press release issued by OCTO Pramac Racing:
Stunning saturday for OCTO Pramac Racing who dominates Q1. Petrux 9th and Yonny 11th after Q2.
A stunnimng Saturday on the Motorland circuit where OCTO Pramac Racing Team completed the second double of the season in Q1 after the one in Jerez de la Frontera. Danilo Petrucci (1st in Q1) will start from the third row with the ninth fastest time. Yonny (2nd in Q1) won the 11th place in the Grand Prix de Aragon starting grid.
Petrux found a great feeling with his Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2 since FP3 but in the first sector of his time attack he ran into a slip off the track (without consequence) burning his chances to exploit the soft tire to go directly in Q2. The rider from Terni managed to stay focused and did great things in FP4 notching up the eighth fastest lap time and recording very interesting high lights in T2 (5th intermediate) and in Q4 (4th). Then the extraordinary exploits in Q1 dominated and finished with 375 thousandths of a second ahead of Yonny. In Q2 (won for the ninth time this season as his teammate) Danilo set a great crono ending with the ninth fastest time (1’47.775).
Yonny also confirmed the positive feelings of Friday. After FP3 rather difficult for the bad condition of the track (the asphault temperature was very low) the rider from Medellin began lapping strong in FP4 and then he managed to beat high level competitors in the extraordinary Q1 “branded” Pramac Racing. In Q2 Yonny registered the eleventh quickest laptime (1’48.556).
Stunning saturday for OCTO Pramac Racing who dominates Q1. Petrux 9th and Yonny 11th after Q2.
9° – Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing #9
I am very satisfied because we didn’t deserve what happened in FP3. The track was quite cold and maybe I pushed too much while the tires were not at the perfect temperature yet. That’s why I joined with great determination both FP4 and Q1. Maybe we could do a little more in Q2 but I found a bit of traffic in the last corner of time attack. Tomorrow we will have to fight but I want to stay again in the Top 10. I have confidence because the race pace is good. We have some problems with the consumption of the rear tire but we are working on this and tomorrow in warm up we will try new solutions.
11° – Yonny Hernandez – OCTO Pramac Racing #68
I am very happy to have given a great satisfaction to the team in Q1. I have improved a lot compared to yesterday and the feeling is growing up. I hope tomorrow we can take further steps forward. To be honest we still have some doubts about the consumption of the rear tire but the race pace is good and I think that we can have a great race.
More, from a press release issued by Forward Racing:
Complicated qualifying for Baz and Elias at Aragon
The riders of the Forward Racing team will start respectively from the 22nd and 25th place on the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Aragon Movistar at the Motorland circuit.
Loris Baz, hampered by a bad fall in the morning practice that costed him a mild neck injury, went on track during the fourth round of free practice motivated to reduce the gap from the other Open. He finished in front of everyone in FP4 and in qualifying he posted a time of 1.49.496, which earned him the 22nd place, just over four tenths off the Open leader Laverty.
Toni Elias had a positive qualifying overall, on his race debut with the Yamaha Forward. The Spaniard has further lowered his lap time and is just six tenths from the other Open bikes. He will start on the back of the field with a personal best of 1.50.755.
Loris Baz
“Too bad for the fall this morning. I made a small mistake and found myself helplessly on the ground. I lost the whole session and I suffered a painful muscle contracture in the neck. In qualifying I was not in top form, I still had pain and I preferred not to risk. I’m starting behind the other riders, but we are not far from the other Open and I think we can go for it tomorrow”.
Toni Elias
“It was another day of work. This morning, with lower temperatures, I struggled to keep the pace, but in qualifying I further closed the gap with the other Open. I have to keep working and learning the bike, but I’m happy and I can say that we are on the right track. I just need time and kilometers to be able to find the right feeling. It is important to continue to improve gradually every session to be able to stay with our opponents in the race”.
More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:
Sixth and seventh row for Di Meglio and Barbera in MotorLand
26/09/15 Avintia Racing MotoGP – Grand Prix of Aragon – QP
The Avintia Racing team riders, Mike Di Meglio and Hector Barbera, finished in 18th and 19th place in the qualifying session for the Aragon Grand Prix today. Di Meglio was able to improve his lap times from the first day while Hector Barbera did not have the speed to complete a flying lap, and he was not capable to improve his pace of the first free practice sessions. But even so, both riders are confident for tomorrow’s race. Eugene Laverty was the fastest Open Class rider today, but everything is very tight, and Barbera is less than 0.5s from the Irishman best lap. So the race tomorrow will be a big battle. Di Meglio and Barbera are ready to fight, and Hector even more, as he needs to close the gap in the standings with Loris Baz, who will start from the 22nd place of the grid tomorrow.
HECTOR BARBERA #8 / 19th (P4 Open) 1’49.426 @HectorBarbera
It was an odd day today, because we worked really good for the race and we have a great set up, but we missed some speed to make a fast lap. Maybe I was not so smart but was tough to make one complete lap with good pace. Now I have bad taste, but I’m confident because the race is tomorrow, we have 23 laps and with used tyres I’ve been fast. Tomorrow we will test something in the front suspension during the warm up, but overall we are ready to race.
MIKE DI MEGLIO #63 / 18th (P3 Open) 1’49.253 @Mikejpp63
Yesterday nothing worked, but today we made a great job from the morning practice and overall this is a positive result. We improved the traction of the bike and I felt really comfortable today. In the qualifying I think it was possible to cut two tenths, but I made a mistake with the gearing going out of turn nine and it was not possible. We have the pace and all the Open Class bikes are close so I expect a good battle tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda:
CRUTCHLOW CLAIMS PLACE ON THIRD ROW IN ARAGON
LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow qualified in eighth position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Aragon at the Motorland Aragon circuit. The Briton produced considerable improvement throughout Saturday to eventually secure a spot on the third row of the grid.
Crutchlow was sixth quickest during Saturday’s morning session and then maintained a high level during qualifying. However, he admitted he was not totally satisfied with his performance and feels there is still plenty of progress to be made ahead of the race as he bids to try and match the podium finish he secured in Aragon 12 months ago.
Cal Crutchlow #35 (8th – 1’47.574)
“I’m pleased with how it went, although I think we should have been a couple of places higher on the grid, these guys with the soft tyre are able to do a better lap time and gain an advantage. To be honest I didn’t put it together particularly well today, we did ok and now we’ll just have to improve tomorrow’s race – but I’m excited and looking forward to it.
“We need to improve in sector one, I thought our consistency was good but we just need a little bit more pace. Overall on the lap we were quite good, but we were not quite fast enough there and hopefully that won’t be the story after tomorrow’s race.”
More, from another press release issued by LCR Honda:
MILLER TO START FROM SEVENTH ROW IN ARAGON
LCR Honda rider Jack Miller qualified in 20th position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Aragon at the Motorland Aragon circuit. The Australian will now be looking to secure his sixth point-scoring finish of the season tomorrow in what is the 14th round of the MotoGP world championship.
After ending up in tenth spot in Q1, Miller acknowledged that he had been unable to make much progress over the course of the weekend on a soft tyre. As such he will now opt to use a hard tyre in Sunday’s race and is hopeful it will prove beneficial in the closing stages.
Jack Miller #43 (20th – 1’49.436)
“We’ve been struggling on the soft tyre as we just don’t have enough pace. All weekend on the soft we’ve been pushing hard but I just can’t quite get comfortable at all.
“I’m going to use the hard tomorrow in the race and set up for a long distance run. We should be alright if we get a decent start, we’ll just have to see where we are and how we can compete in the middle stages and then hopefully the tyre should help us towards the end of the race.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
POSITIVE IMPROVEMENTS FOR SUZUKI ECSTAR AT ARAGON
It was a tough day in qualifying today, with the pole-setter destroying the previous circuit record by more than half a second and the gap between second and third also being around half a second.
MotoGP was at its competitive best once more as Aleix Espargaro managed to sensibly improve his feeling with his machine and place his GSX-RR only four-tenths-of-a-second from the front row, thanks to his 1’47.573 lap that gives him seventh place in qualifying.
The result comes from a positive morning for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, where the Spaniard could find a lot more confidence with his machine and being within the top riders for the whole FP3 session. Finally the 1’48.524s he scored in FP2 yesterday set him in the 10th place in the combined classification and having direct access to Q2.
Maverick Viñales also improved a lot from yesterday and recovered his usual place in the top 10, finding a new positive set-up on his machine which allowed him to make several attempts at his best lap in the FP3 session, finally hitting the 1’48.449s mark that gave him ninth place and getting him directly into Q2. Qualifying was a little harder than expected, due to different track conditions, and he couldn’t do better than 12th place, with a 1’48.648s lap.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“Finally today we could make positive steps forward from yesterday, we managed to deliver better performing bike set-ups to the riders and they did a good job. This morning we got the direct access to Q2 with both, we have been missing this result for a while now and it’s a positive feeling to be there again. Then Aleix managed to capitalise on his improvements, he had a very good pace and could be effective also in the fast-lap attack. The position he got for the grid gives us hope and also the pace he had seems encouraging. Maverick as well could make a huge improvement; yesterday he couldn’t feel comfortable at all while today he found a more effective set-up that helped him to find more confidence. Since yesterday he was feeling unhappy and he had to focus on qualifying today, therefore we still need to finalise some aspects for the race pace. However it is positive that we could stand up from the not so positive day we had yesterday, it is proof for the team and the riders of our direction. I feel that if tomorrow’s weather will stay dry we can finally get back to the fight.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“It’s good to be back in the top group. After yesterday I didn’t feel very comfortable at all while this morning we could make a good improvement. It is important to start from seventh place, it is more like the place where I think we deserve to be and will allow me to be immediately up to the front of the pack. In fact today’s qualifying was very, very hard, the circuit record was completely destroyed and I’m on the third row although I am only 0.4s from the front row. This means that we found a proper way to proceed and we are getting back closer to the top. Finally my pace is pretty much the same as other middle pack riders, therefore I am confident that tomorrow we can make a positive race.”
Maverick Viñales:
“Finally we found some directions to work in and we could make a very important step forward. Yesterday we lost pretty much all the day because we couldn’t find the proper direction, while today we managed to be very competitive. This pays back our efforts and re-ignites our positive expectations. Of course today I had to focus on qualifying, in FP3 I thought to be as fast as possible to hit direct access to Q2 and in qualifying as well I focused on getting the best place available. This means that we couldn’t finalise the work for the consistent race pace, probably we still miss something to be relaxed and confident, but we still have the warm-up to try to find something more and consolidate our pace. The race will be tough, the top riders are doing very well but also the middle pack is very competitive. We need to get as many points as possible for the championship therefore we will work hard in warm-up to finalise the race-pace set-up and try to be aggressive in the race itself.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Marquez destroys his own record on way to Aragon pole
Marc Marquez obliterated his own record on the way to claiming his 7th pole of the season ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone.
Repsol Honda’s Marquez set the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP™ bike around the 5km MotorLand Aragon circuit, as he claimed his 29th premier class pole position in a thrilling Q2 session. The Spaniard made the most of ideal conditions (Track temp. 38°C) at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón to set a 1’46.635 on his first run to completely annihilate his own 2014 Pole Record (1’47.187) in the process by over half a second. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion utilised a two-stop strategy and appeared to be going even quicker on his third run before he lost the front at turn 2, walking away unhurt.
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who had earlier topped FP3 after dominating on Friday, was the only rider to get within 0.5s of Marquez. Lorenzo finished 0.108s off the pace of Marquez, as he attempts to close the 23-point gap in the standings to his teammate Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo was the only other rider to break the 1’47 barrier as he claimed his 11th front row start of the season and sixth in a row.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone pulled off the surprise of the day to complete the front row, despite riding through the pain barrier. The Italian re-dislocated his left shoulder in a training accident after Misano but managed to set a time good enough to secure his fourth front row start of the season and first since Mugello. Incredibly though, he was over half a second off the pace off Marquez, as 0.543s separated the top three riders.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro (+0.699s) put in a sensational lap to start from the front of the second row in fourth as the leading Satellite rider. This equalled the Spaniard’s best qualifying performance of the season at Jerez.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (+0.722s) had topped the earlier FP4 session but will start Sunday’s race from fifth. Pedrosa had found himself on the provisional front row after the first run but could only improve by three-hundredths of a second on his second run and will have to start from the middle of the second row.
Movistar Yamaha’s championship leader Rossi (+0.857s) was staring down the barrel of a third row start before he managed to respond on his final lap to set a time good enough for sixth. The nine-time World Champion found himself 0.749s off the pace off his closest rival Lorenzo in what was his worst Qualifying performance since Indianapolis.
Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro made use of the minor engine upgrade brought by his team to Aragon to set the seventh fastest time in his best qualifying performance since the Sachsenring.
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow will start from the middle of the third row, as he lost out to Espargaro by just 0.001s. The British rider improved from 13th on the combined timesheets on Friday to finish in tenth ahead of Danilo Petrucci on the Octo Pramac Racing Ducati. Petrucci earlier had made it through from Q1 with his teammate Yonny Hernandez at the expense of Andrea Dovizioso on the Factory Ducati, who will be forced to start from 13th.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith recovered from an earlier crash at turn 5 in FP3 to complete the top ten, while Hernandez and the second Suzuki GSX-RR of Maverick Viñales round out the fourth row.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding will start form 14th, while Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) is the leading Open class rider in 15th in his best qualifying performance since Argentina. His teammate Nicky Hayden qualified in 16th despite riding with a broken thumb while Australian Jack Miller will start from the middle of row seven in 20th.
Rabat rules Moto2™ Qualifying
Tito Rabat takes his second pole position of the season ahead of rivals Alex Rins and Johann Zarco at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Rabat set a 1’52.232 in the glorious sunshine at MotorLand Aragon to re-write history and take over a second off Marc Marquez’s 2011 Pole Record (1’53.296). Amazingly, Rabat managed 14 laps under the old record and in the process set the fastest ever lap by a Moto2™ bike around the Alcaniz track to claim his 15th career Moto2™ pole position.
Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins was just 0.035s off the pace of the reigning Moto2™ World Champion, as he secured his seventh front row start of the season in an incredibly close session that saw less than a second separate the top fifteen riders. The current championship leader Johann Zarco completed the front row, although he was 0.427s off the pace of Rabat. The Frenchman has a 93-point advantage over Rabat and can lift the title on Sunday if results go his way.
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+0.440s) recovered from a nasty looking crash at turn 17 halfway through the session to set a time good enough for fourth on his very last lap that put him ahead of Takaaki Nakagami. Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Nakagami had been on the provisional front row on combined times after FP3 and he managed to equal his best qualifying performance of the season to start from fifth.
Rabat’s rookie teammate Alex Marquez will start from sixth, the Spaniard’s best ever Moto2™ grid position. AGR Team’s Jonas Folger heads up the third row ahead of Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) and his teammate Axel Pons, while Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) completed the top ten.
Mika Kallio impressed on his debut for the Forward Racing team as he out-qualified his teammate Julian Simon (16th) in fifteenth. Kallio’s replacement in the Italtrans Racing Team, Federico Caricasulo, has pulled out of the rest of the weekend due to an injured AC joint sustained at the WorldSBK round in Jerez, which he aggravated on Friday in a crash in FP1. Edgar Pons was making his debut for the Italtrans Racing Team this weekend and ended the session in 23rd.
Bastianini makes it back-to-back Moto3™ pole positions
Enea Bastianini obliterated the Pole Record to take his fourth pole position of the season ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Danny Kent.
Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Bastianini set a 1’57.755 to record the fastest ever Moto3™ lap around the MotorLand Aragon circuit on his way to taking pole at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón. He beat both Alex Rins’ Pole Record (1’58.318) and Juanfran Guevara’s outright Fastest Lap record (1’57.930) in the process.
The 17-year-old Italian, who took his maiden Moto3™ victory last time out at Misano, ended the session 0.200s ahead of nearest rival, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira secured his fifth front row start of 2015 in a session where the slipstream played a major role, especially down the long back straight.
Leopard Racing’s Kent (+0.201s), who has a 55-point lead over Bastianini in the standings, left it late to secure his 11th front row start of the season. The British rider was just a further one-thousandth of a second back from Oliveira in third as he set his fastest time on his last lap.
Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Jorge Martin (+0.657s) put in his best qualifying performance of the season to start from the front of the second row in fourth. Jorge Navarro (+0.689s) on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda was fifth fastest after recovering from the crash that ended his participation in the San Marino GP weekend.
Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli finished in sixth (+0.710s), ahead of Alexis Masbou (SAXOPRINT RTG) and the man who had earlier topped FP3, Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing).
Phillip Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) completed the top ten. Fenati won last year’s race at Aragon from 13th on the grid.
Scotsman John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) will start from 14th on the grid. Sena Yamada is filling in for the injured Fabio Quartararo and qualified in 23rd. Quartararo, while not riding, took the chance to announce that he will make the switch to the Leopard Racing team in 2016.
Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) took no part in Saturday’s action and will miss the rest of the weekend due to the pain from the sacrum fracture he suffered at Misano.
More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:
Espargaro strikes hard to clinch 4th on the grid for Aragon MotoGP race
Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro stormed to 4th position in qualifying today at the MotorLand Aragon circuit and will begin the battle at the 14th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship as the leading satellite bike on the grid. The young Spaniard started the vital qualifying day by continuing his setup work and then speeding to a best time of 1’48.449 in FP3. This left him in 7th place in the session but 8th overall and able to pass straight through the Q2. Once the intensely competitive 15 minute shootout commenced, the 24 year old jumped onto his Yamaha YZR-M1, determined to seize a top placement. After building up his pace, Espargaro powered to a best lap of 1’47.334 on his sixth out of seven, which resulted in him securing 4th with the gap to third place being just over a tenth of a second. Therefore, the 2013 Moto2 World Champion will start from the head of the second row as he equalled his best qualifying position of the year. He intends to achieve his target of battling as closely as possible with the factory MotoGP bikes and aims to finish inside the top six.
On the other hand, Bradley Smith dug deep and fought relentlessly throughout the intense Q2 session and he will line up at the front of the fourth row for the MotoGP race tomorrow. The young Briton kicked off the day by finishing the third free practice in 11th place due to a crash interrupting his session. Yet, his strong lap time of 1’48.318 in FP2 yesterday positioned him in 7th in the overall standings and able to glide straight through to Qualifying 2. As the 15 minute battle got underway Smith leapt into action and looked to land a top starting position to begin the 23 lap fight from. The 24 year old bolted to a best time of 1’47.830 which left him just over three tenths from rear of the second row. This result was a full second quicker than his qualifying time from last year and Smith will seek to undertake a rocket start tomorrow as he hopes to clinch the leading satellite honours at the meandering MotorLand Aragon circuit.
Pol Espargaro
Position : 4thTime : 1’47.334Laps : 7
“Fourth position is definitely a positive end to today’s qualifying and it is a promising starting point for the upcoming race. Yet, it hasn’t been an easy day as we had to face some difficulties with a lack of grip during FP4 when I ran on a used rear tyre. Afterwards, during the qualifying with the two new rubbers, the conditions changed completely and I felt much more confident. I was searching for the limit a bit during my first run and then I gave it everything I had on the second tyre and the final result is really pleasing. This is even more important as the first corner here is a bit dangerous and some other turns in the opening sector are tricky regarding the braking at the start of the race, so it’s truly positive to be able to kick off proceedings from the front of the field.”
Bradley Smith
Position : 10thTime : 1’47.830Laps : 8
“Although my grid position is a little further back from where I have been qualifying recently, the weekend has been going well and I am quite positive about getting into the top six tomorrow in the race. I felt comfortable as soon as we got running here, even though I had a little fall this morning. To be honest, we still don’t know exactly what happened, but one possible reason is that the tyres weren’t up to temperature yet. Anyway, in Q2 I expected to do a 47.8 or a 47.9 lap time and I was actually able to do this time for three laps consistently which bodes well for the race. However, today we were missing that last 0.4 of a second, which would have resulted in me scoring a strong qualifying position. We need to analyse a few more details tomorrow in the warm up and then finalise our plan for the race. We will then go from there and hopefully I will be able to get in the mix after a good start.”