FIM MotoGP World Championship

Brno, Czech Republic

August 16, 2014

Combined Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires):

1. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:55.585

2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:55.714

3. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 1:55.726

4. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:55.730

5. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:55.812

6. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:55.815

7. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:55.821

8. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:55.871

9. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:55.899

10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:56.090

11. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (DUCATI), 1:56.129

12. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 1:56.622

13. Michele PIRRO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:57.093

14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:57.428

15. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 1:57.557

16. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:57.984

17. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), 1:58.100

18. Leon CAMIER, UK (HONDA), 1:58.635

19. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (ART-APRILIA), 1:58.863

20. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:58.948

21. Hector BARBERA, Spain (FTR-KAWASAKI), 1:58.968

22. Michael LAVERTY, UK (PBM-APRILIA), 1:58.968

23. Broc PARKES, Australia (PBM-APRILIA), 1:59.581

24. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (FTR-KAWASAKI), no time recorded

More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:

Marquez snatches ninth pole of 2014 with Pedrosa in fifth

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken his ninth pole – in eleven races – for tomorrow’s Czech Republic GP and has now qualified on the front row at the last twenty three MotoGP races, with teammate Dani Pedrosa will starting from the second row in fifth position.

It was an incredibly tight qualifying session with just half a second separating the top eleven riders. Marc secured pole position on his final lap of the session (6 of 7) with a time of 1’55.585, just 0.058 off the 2013 pole record (1’55.527, Crutchlow). Dani missed out on a front row start by just 0.084 with his time of 1’55.812, which he also recorded on lap 6 of 7.

Tomorrow’s race will start at 14h00 local time.

TEAM QUOTES

Marc Marquez

1st – 1’55.585

“I’m happy about the pole position today. I had Iannone behind me so the only solution was to push, because I had to set a hot lap. As for tomorrow’s race, we have pole but the toughest rivals will start from the second row, especially Dani. We will see what condition Valentino is in and hopefully he can ride well, because he has also been strong this weekend and I hope Jorge can be in the fight too. I’m expecting a tough battle from start to finish for the win”

Dani Pedrosa

5th – 1’55.812

“Today was positive as it didn’t rain and we were able to try out tyres in the dry. We are pretty clear now about which direction we will go for the race. It was a pity that we couldn’t get a spot on the front row in qualifying, but it was difficult because the times were extremely close. I hope I can make a good start tomorrow and have a good race”

More, from a press release issued by Cardion AB Motoracing:

Abraham will start to home race from sixth row

Karel Abraham rode the seventeenth fastest time during the qualifying in home Grand Prix of Czech Republic. The rider of team Cardion AB Motoracing reached on time 1:58,100, so he improved his best lap time from free practices of more then one second.

Karel Abraham

“The 17th position definitely isn´t what we dreamt about, but the good news is that we improved our lap time compared to the free practices. I stay close to Aoyama and not so far from Redding. We did good job on setup, but we still have something to do. We must be sure that the solution we got can work during whole race. We partly solve the problems with rear wheel grip; unfortunately it affected the stability of front. So we must work on it tomorrow. I hope to solve it and to make good race here in Brno.”

Marco Grana, Cardion AB chief mechanic

“We did good job on bike setup. We almost solve the problem with rear grip, which we had suffered from Indianapolis. The lap time we made is quite good. 1:58,1 is 1,5 second faster than yesterday and we are very close to Redding. The track condition is quite difficult, the asphalt grip isn´t ideal partly due to the low air temperature. We are very close to point again and this is our goal. I expect this race to be very hard. Many riders have nearly the same lap time, and we must be very good from the early beginning to catch some points.”

More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:

Ninth pole position of the season for Marquez in close qualifying session at Brno

Round 11: Czech Republic Grand Prix – Qualifying

Brno, Saturday August 16 2014

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)

Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)

Weather: FP3 – Dry. Ambient 15-16°C; Track 21-24°C (Bridgestone measurement)

FP4/QP – Dry. Ambient 18-19°C; Track 34-36°C (Bridgestone measurement)

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez claimed his ninth pole position of the season at Brno in an entertaining qualifying session in which the top eleven riders were covered by just half a second in Qualifying Practice 2.

Marquez’s best lap time of 1’55.585 was just 0.058 seconds shy of the Circuit Best Lap record and was enough to see him grab pole position ahead of a pair of Ducati riders that claimed a front row start for tomorrow’s race. Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso was second quickest in qualifying after clocking a time of 1’55.714 to finish just 0.012 seconds ahead of Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone who was third quickest in QP2. Both Dovizioso and Iannone set their personal best times using the combination of the medium compound front and soft compound rear slicks, while Marquez used the medium compound front and rear slicks on the way to pole position.

Weather conditions today were similar to yesterday with cool ambient temperatures and occasional rain falling throughout the day. The rain didn’t affect any of the MotoGP™ sessions and the track temperature reached a maximum of 36°C – 5° warmer than yesterday’s peak reading. With yesterday’s Free Practice 2 session a washout, the riders used today to hone their setup on their preferred tyre combination and perform race simulations in the afternoon FP4 session. The cool temperatures resulted in the majority of riders preferring to use their softer rear slick option; medium compound for the Factory Honda and Yamaha riders, soft compound for the Ducati and Open-class riders for both long runs in practice and to set a quick lap in qualifying. The majority of riders opted for the medium compound front slick today due to its balance of braking and cornering performance, with other riders preferring the better warm-up performance and edge grip of the soft compound front.

The next MotoGP™ session is twenty-minute morning Warm Up at 0940 local time (GMT +1) and the twenty-two lap Czech Republic Grand Prix will get underway at 1400.

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

“Yesterday we saw that the gap among the top riders was very close, with the Ducati, Honda and Yamaha riders all evenly matched and I am happy this trend continued today. This is a good indication that our 2014 specification MotoGP slicks offer good performance to all makes of machine and the pace during race simulations in FP4 was close as well. Our two main front tyre specifications for this weekend, the soft and medium compound are working well at Brno and I expect most riders to use the medium compound front for the race. The soft and medium rear slicks are also preferred by the majority of riders as this gives the best cornering performance and drive grip here at Brno. We’ve had many close races at Brno in recent years and the signs are good for another exciting contest tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing:

Espargaro first Open at Brno

The GP of Czech Republic, 11th round of the MotoGP World Championship, will see the NGM Forward Racing riders Aleix Espargaro and Alex De Angelis take the start respectively from the 4th and 7th row.

First open on the grid, this result confirms one again the quality of the Forward Yamaha package. Espargaro set a lap time of 1’56.090, just 0.505 from pole man Marc Marquez. Despite the 10th place, the Spaniard was happy with the improvement achieved during the afternoon session and he is confident to make another step forward tomorrow in the warm up to find the best setting for the race.

Team mate Alex De Angelis used today’s sessions on dry conditions to continue to understand the Forward Yamaha. He worked on the set up and in the afternoon he was able to ride with more confidence, improving his lap times. He finally finished in 20th position.

Aleix Espargaro

“We have improved in terms of set up of the machine and this is the important thing, considered that we struggled a lot with the front during the free practices. We are just 5 tenths from the pole, less than 4 tenths from the front row, but we are in 10th position and this will make the race more complicated. This track is fast and we are suffering a bit. We will continue to work in the warm up to find the best set –up for the race, as we need a good result and gain the points lost at Indy”.

Alex De Angelis

“Today we continued to work in preparation of the race. We started with a set –up close to the one used by Aleix and then we modified it according to my feelings and we finally improved in the Q1 when I started to use a softer fork. I’m happy because we could improve the rhythm and the lap times. Tomorrow we will continue to work in the warm up. Every single session is very important to understand the bike better”.

More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:

Second and Third Row for Yamaha in Brno Qualifying

Time 14:45 Local time GMT+2SunnySunnyTemperatureAir 21°C

Track 38°CTemperatureHumidity 51%

Qualifying

Brno (Czech Republic), 16th August 2014

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix Ceské Republiky from the second and third row after taking sixth and seventh place respectively in today’s qualifying session.

Lorenzo was eager to start the 15-minute qualifying session and the first one out of the pits to ensure a free track for his first stint. His first flying lap of 1.56.318, took him to provisional pole, before being pushed back to sixth place when the pace quickened. With a little more than seven minutes to go he came into the pits for a fresh set of rubber front and rear. With three minutes of the session left Lorenzo had only one lap to show his pace with the softer compound front tyre and rode a 1’55.815 moving him up from eleventh to sixth.

It was an eventful day for teammate Valentino Rossi. The nine-time World Champion was right on the pace during Free Practice #4, setting the fastest lap of the weekend thus far before suffering a crash and injuring his left little finger. Rossi had an X-ray at the Clinica Mobile and was declared fit to continue.

During qualifying he took his time to get out on track, giving the other riders a head start. During his first stint, the Doctor’s best lap of 1’56.708 saw him move to tenth place before he came in for new tyres with less than seven minutes remaining. Two minutes later he was back and, despite the pain, set a personal best lap of 1’55.821, shooting him up to the top five before being demoted to seventh in the last laps.

Jorge Lorenzo

6th / 1’55.815 / 6 laps

“The lap times are not bad. I had some pretty fast laps even on used tyres. Some days if you can’t go a little bit faster it makes a big difference. It could have been worse, because also the riders in seventh, eight and ninth place are very close to my lap times. When we put a soft tyre on the front it gave me much more confidence. Unfortunately it won’t be possible to use this tyre for tomorrow’s race, so we have to work on the bike to give me more confidence with the harder front tyre. I swopped bikes during the qualifying session because we put a special brake on the number one bike and the braking was good, but we lost a lot of time with speed and acceleration, especially on the last corner. We concentrated on the normal bike with our last try and it was better.”

Valentino Rossi

7th / 1’55.821 / 7 laps

“I was pushing a lot and my pace was fast but unfortunately when entering turn eleven I was a little bit too wide. I was braking hard, trying to enter the corner anyway but I lost the front and damaged my little finger. It’s very important for tomorrow that there is no fracture. It seems like there won’t be any problem. My finger is not broken; it’s just a little bit damaged. I think and hope that it won’t give me problems during the race. Using the soft front tyre for tomorrow is not an option for me. I think using the hard tyre on the front is better.”

Massimo Meregalli

“Jorge has run a good pace for all the sessions however we were unable to make the most of it in the qualifying session and take full advantage of his pace. We will work to make a step for him to improve his feeling with the bike tomorrow morning and he should be ready for the race. With Vale we made a good improvement with the bike and he was pretty satisfied. We are still looking for some more improvements but the level is good. Unfortunately he crashed in free practice otherwise I’m sure he would be further in front. He really put in a lot of effort as he had a big, deep abrasion on his hand. It’s a shame that we lost the second row for almost nothing.”

More, from a press release issued by Drive M7 Aspar Team:

Aoyama and Camier ready for strong Brno showing

DRIVE M7 Aspar riders hammer lap times down and line up on sixth row

Series leader Marc Márquez wasted no time in stamping his authority on MotoGP qualifying this afternoon, establishing the early benchmark and then continuing to lower his times on his way to pole position for tomorrow’s race at Brno. Andrea Iannone was smart enough to catch a tow from the World Champion, momentarily leading the classification before dropping back to third place behind fellow Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso. With his ninth pole of the season in the bag, Márquez will tomorrow look to make it eleven race wins from eleven.

There was constant progress throughout the day in the DRIVE M7 Aspar Team garage, where Hiroshi Aoyama and Leon Camier significantly improved on their best times from yesterday whilst improving the set-up of their machines and establishing a strong and consistent pace. The Japanese rider found almost a second today whilst the Brit improved by almost two seconds in just his second MotoGP event. The pair will both start from the sixth row of the grid in sixteenth and eighteenth place respectively.

16th Hiroshi Aoyama 1.57.984: “We had two very different sessions yesterday, one wet and one dry, so we didn’t get to work out the best set-up for the bike. So this morning we had to check some things and try a change. We made some good progress and continued with that this afternoon, setting a consistent pace throughout the day. Obviously we need to continue improving and to find a bit more pace for the race but we still have room to improve we know what we need to do.”

18th Leon Camier 1.58.635: “Even though I set a strong and consistent pace today I didn’t manage to put a hot lap together. I am happy with the work we did though and we know where we need to improve. To be honest I think the progress we have made is pretty incredible, we’ve taken a few seconds off the lap time from yesterday to today, but we need more time and losing a session to the rain yesterday didn’t help. We are gradually closing the gap to the guys in front of us, our pace here is better than it was at Indy and hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow after all the hard work so far this weekend.”

More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Czech Republic Grand Prix: superb performance by Dovizioso, who takes second place in qualifying at Brno and earns a front row start. Crutchlow eleventh.

Andrea Dovizioso put in another excellent performance in qualifying at Brno to repeat the second place grid slot he secured at Indianapolis. The Italian will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Czech Republic Grand Prix ahead of fellow Ducati rider Andrea Iannone with the Pramac Racing Team’s Desmosedici GP14, who recorded the third-quickest time.

The other Ducati Team rider, Cal Crutchlow, qualified eleventh with a time that was just 544 thousandths of a second away from the pole mark, and the British rider will start from row 4 tomorrow.

Michele Pirro, the Ducati Test Team test-rider, was unable to get through into the Q2 session and ended his qualifying run in thirteenth place.

Dovizioso will start from row 1 for the third time this season, while the last time two Ducati machines lined up on the front row of the grid was the Valencia GP in 2006, with Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (1’55.714)

“I am very happy with this weekend because we got off to a good start right from the first Friday session. We have worked a lot with the medium tyre, which I think almost everyone will use tomorrow in the race, and we are competitive and much closer to the front guys. This second place is much better than the one at Indianapolis, because I did the lap time on my own. We have worked really well, I’ve got a good feeling with my GP14, and above all it was important to reduce the gap to the front. My qualifying was perfect and the lap time I did was really over the top! Tomorrow for sure it’ll be important to start up front, but I’m confident I can do a good race.”

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 11th (1’56.129)

“I’m happy enough with today. I know the position is not the best but the lap time was respectable for where we’ve been all weekend. So to be half-a-second off pole position is not too bad! In qualifying I had a problem with my first tyre and that made me have no confidence for half-a-lap with the second one. Despite this I gained 1.5 seconds in one lap and maybe could have gone a bit faster, but in any case I’m confident enough for the race now.”

Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 13th (1’57.093)

“I am quite happy because I did a good time in any case, almost two seconds quicker than my lap last year, and this means that the bike has improved a lot. I’ve got out of the habit of doing qualifying a bit, seeing as I haven’t raced since Barcelona. I did a good time, just missing out on Q2 by a whisker, and maybe I could have done even better. In any case to lap 1.4 seconds away from the front guys on a track that I don’t like very much, is a great satisfaction. We’re working really hard and I hope to do a good race tomorrow to gather useful information for the team and bring home a good result.”

More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing:

Andrea Iannone third; Yonny Hernandez starts from the fourth row

Today a amazing Andrea Iannone gained the third position on the grid. The day was also positive for his team-mate Yonny Hernandez accessing the QP2 finishing the twelfth.

During the forty-five minutes of the FP3 this morning, Andrea finished in sixth place, good to go directly to the second qualifying session. The rider did not have the right feeling with his bike and complained about the lack of stability of the GP14, so the team focused to refine the setup for the last free practice session. The modifications done gave their results during the QP2 and the young driver was able to push and conquer the third position on the grid. This second first row after the one in Mugello gives the team hope for a good end of the champoinship.

During the last practice session Yonny Hernandez (EnergyT.I. Pramac Racing) and the team concentrated their attention to the front of the bike, looking for the right solution to improve the feeling in the turns. The lap time recorded by the Colombian was not valid to directly access the QP2. Yonny, determined more than ever, during the QP1 he was able to do the second best lap time, which earned him access to the last qualifying session, where he set the lap time of 1’56.622 that placed him in fourth row.

Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing)

“I’m glad it was a good qualifying for us. We are catching up with what we could not do yesterday, I rode with difficulty, and then this morning I managed to get better and better. We found solutions that helped us. I regret that during the second lap I went a little wide on turn thirteen but the first lap was already great. Tomorrow I hope to finish the race in the top six. “

Yonny Hernandez (EnergyT.I. Pramac Racing)

“I am really very happy that I was able to access the Q2 after the first qualifying session. It’s very important for me to stay close to the top riders to take advantage of the opportunity and learn more and more. Tomorrow I want to be able to get into the points and if possible to finish in the top ten.

More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

Brilliant Marquez takes Brno pole for round 11 contest

Sunday’s MotoGP™ race at the bwin Grand Prix Ceské republiky will get underway with Marc Marquez on pole, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone on row one of the grid.

Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) produced a rapid 1’55.585 lap to take pole number nine of the season at round 11, as his brilliant season continues.

Dovizioso (Ducati Team) matched his Indy qualifying performance in second, with his compatriot and colleague on Ducati machinery Iannone (Pramac Racing) qualifying third – for his second front row start of 2014.

The pressure on Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) has been relieved somewhat by his recent contract extension for 2015 and his good Indy race result and he produced a good Q2 performance to qualify fourth.

The Englishman is joined on row two by the experienced Spanish pair of Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).

A high speed crash in FP4 for Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) meant he went into Q2 with a dressing on the little finger of his left hand. The Italian will head up row three for his 245th premier class race.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) made it through from Q1 to qualify eighth and 12th respectively. Behind Bradl, Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) completes the third row.

Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) leads row four, with Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) and Hernandez set to line up behind him.

Moto2™: Intermediate class pole goes to Rabat

The Moto2™ contest at the 11th round of the World Championship will see the grid led by Tito Rabat, whilst Tom Luthi and Sandro Cortese will also be on the first row.

Standings leader Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) secured his seventh pole start of the year with a new pole record at the Brno track with a 2’01.911 time.

Behind the Spaniard, Swiss rider Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and German competitor Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) were respectively 0.232s and 0.396s down on the pole time in second and third.

Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) will line up on row two, with Kallio walking away unhurt from a crash as he pushed hard in the final minutes of QP.

Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) , Jonas Folger (AGR Team) and Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) completed the top ten.

Moto3™: Marquez on pole following eventful qualifying run

The Moto3™ pole was taken by Alex Marquez at the bwin Grand Prix Ceské republiky, with Isaac Viñales and Niccolo Antonelli also securing front row slots. Intermittent rain and a red flag whilst an air fence was repaired made it a tricky session for the riders.

Despite an accident in the Brno QP Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) took a second pole position of his career, with his compatriot Viñales (Calvo Team) joining him on the front row with a time 0.223s behind the pole lap. Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) improved late on (+0.315s) to take third.

Marquez crashed mid-session after running onto the gravel to avoid traffic as light rain started to fall, but despite a heavy tumble he was able to return for the rest of the session and take pole. The rain was intermittent and fell only at specific points on the track making it a tricky session for the riders to judge.

Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) will line up on row two for what promises to be another exciting Moto3 race.

The session was red flagged after a Philipp Oettl (Interwetten Paddock Moto3) crashed with just under ten minutes remaining. The rider was not injured but his bike was damaged and there was a delay whilst an air fence was repaired.

Before that red flag Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) was on provisional pole – at the 133rd Grand Prix of his long career – but ultimately qualified seventh. Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) and Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3) qualified eighth and ninth respectively despite a late QP crash for Vazquez and a Friday spill for Bastianini which left him riding with a broken heel on Saturday.

Vazquez went down right at the end of the session, unable to continue as he fell heavily at turn 6. The Spanish rider who won at Indy was helped away by safety officials on foot.

The top ten was completed by Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46), so the Italian will therefore head row four.

More, from a press release issued by Scott Redding’s publicist:

Fifth row for Redding in Brno

Brno, Czech Republic – 16 August 2014: Scott Redding once again qualified as the highest placed of the production Honda riders in Brno and will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of the Czech Republic from 15th on the grid.

The MotoGP rookie took a tumble in the final free practice session before qualifying, as he struggled with rear traction problems and a lack of feeling on corner entry.

Despite the issues Redding qualified as the leading Honda RCV1000R rider once again, a result he is determined to repeat in tomorrow’s 22 lap race.

Scott Redding // 15th // 1’57.557

“Today was difficult because I didn’t have such a good feeling with the bike. I was struggling with edge grip and also lacking rear traction, so I didn’t really feel comfortable on the bike. A crash in FP4 wasn’t the best way to prepare for qualifying and my confidence took a bit of a knock from that. We still didn’t do such a bad job, but I need to find more consistency for the race tomorrow. The priorities for tomorrow are more rear grip, better corner entry and improved feedback under braking.”

More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:

Smith storms to strong qualifying as leading Yamaha in Brno

Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith completed a superbly executed qualifying performance at the bwin Grand Prix Ceské republiky which will see him start the 11th round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship from 4th on the grid. The young British rider continued yesterday’s positive start at the Automotodrom Brno by opening today with a superb 3rd place finish and as the top Yamaha in the morning practice with a best time of 1’56.780 which saw him sail straight through to the Q2 qualifying session. The 23 year old proceeded to push further onwards in the dry qualifying shootout and on his 6th and last lap he powered over the start finish line to post a best time of 1’55.730 in what was an impressively hard fought qualifying session. In addition, his inspiring lap time was incredibly a mere four thousandths of a second from the front row and his expert performance saw him only two tenths from the circuit best lap. The British star will seek to undertake a lightening start from the front of the second row and then aggressively compete to be the leading satellite bike aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 in tomorrow’s race at Brno.

On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage, Pol Espargaro continued his positive qualifying campaign this year by clinching 9th position which will see him start Sunday’s 22 lap race around the 5403 metre Czech circuit from the 3rd row. Following yesterday’s noteworthy performance in the rookie’s first full wet session the reigning Moto2 World Champion completed this morning’s practice with a best time of 1’56.825 allowing him to slip straight through to the Q2 session before improving his time further in FP4 to strongly finish in 4th. Espargaro sustained his confident performances as he sought to lower his lap time further in the 15 minute session and then blazed to a best time of 1’55.899 which was only 0.173 from the front row and three tenths of a second from the pole position time. Tomorrow he will aim to undertake a soaring start and battle to a top 5 finish once again for round 11 of his rookie campaign in the premier class.

Bradley Smith

Position : 4th Time : 1’55.730 Laps : 6

“I am very pleased with the qualifying result as it gives me the perfect platform for a strong result tomorrow. It’s the first time since the start of the season that we have been back to the level of performance that we had at Qatar and today I was able to score a positive grid position. The team did an excellent job and I must thank my technicians and Guy Coulon for their brilliant technical knowledge plus guidance. In all honesty, I was a bit worried as we seemed to struggle yesterday but it’s super to be back up to speed and then to top it off by qualifying on the second row. Furthermore I am really happy with my decision to use the front medium for the Q2 session which was the perfect choice. I am very confident that I will be able to have a good start and then stay at the front with the leading riders, so I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”

Pol Espargaro

Position : 9th Time : 1’55.899 Laps : 7

“I am a little disappointed with qualifying 9th after I have ran well in the rankings during the whole weekend so far, including 4th in FP4 so I hoped to be a little higher at the end of qualifying. All of the times today were really close and the distance to the front row was not too far at all, but the competition is high as this is MotoGP. Honestly, I still lack a bit of experience in qualifying because in this class you have to perform your quick lap instantly whereas in Moto2 there was more time and you built yourself up for the attack. The qualifying result today puts us into a slightly tricky situation and the start will be vital to score a good result here. In terms of tyre choice, I did try both compounds today and I felt confident on either variation, however we will decide on which one to race after judging the conditions tomorrow morning. I would not predict tomorrow’s race to be an easy one but I am still convinced we can do a good job as my race pace itself is very promising and my aim is still a top five finish here in Brno.”