Espargaro hoping to make up places with good start from fifth row on grid

Discrete qualifying session for the Pramac Racing Team riders. Aleix Espargarò, after obtaining the eleventh place during this morning’s second free practice and managing a considerable improvement compared to yesterday’s free practise, was unable to get more than the thirteenth position on the grid of the Japanese Grand Prix. He will start the race from the fifth row.
Tomorrow, the Pramac Racing duo will have to find some setup solutions during the warm up to try and gain positions during the race which will start at 3 pm local time.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“In contrast to the Aragon track where all the Ducatis where very fast, on this track only Stoner was able to get among the fastest riders. Usually the Ducati is most efficient when you use hard tyres in contrast to other teams who have a better performance with soft tyres. On the Motegi track it’s not like this, because the others riders were significantly faster with soft tyres. This is not an excuse for us, but a good motivation to find suitable solutions for tomorrow.”

Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 13th fastest time in 1’48 .371
“We tried it. This morning the situation was acceptable, but this afternoon when the session was really important, we couldn’t improve the laptime as we expected. It’s a pity. I prefer tracks with fast corners and not with hard braking and acceleration, as it is here, but I still hope to be able to get a good start tomorrow and try to stay with the fastest riders and win as many points as possible for the riders and Teams standings. “

Source: Pramac Racing