Terol again starting from front row and looking to fight for the win

Three names rung louder than any others around the Motegi public address system during 125cc qualifying this afternoon as Marc Márquez and Bancaja Aspar pair Nico Terol and Bradley Smith dominated proceedings. Terol and Márquez were the only riders able to break into the 1’58s today but Smith is chasing hard and was less than a second behind. On paper the trio are the favourite to fill the podium positions tomorrow but with the weather forecast predicting rain there could be more than the odd surprise.

Neither Terol or Smith have good track records here, with the Spaniard boasting a best result of fifth and the Briton an eighth, although both look on course to set the record straight tomorrow. Despite encountering set-up problems this afternoon Nico qualified second and Bradley third, meaning they will launch their quest for a repeat of the double podium at Aragón two weeks ago from the front row of the grid.

2nd Nico Terol 1.58.447 (16 laps): “I am happy because I have set a good pace all weekend, similar to Márquez, although he was able to pull out a gap at the end. I had a few problems with the rear in qualifying because it was sliding around more under acceleration than it was this morning. We fixed it at the end of the session but not as much as I hoped and that slight lack of confidence made it difficult to push for a better time. A front row start and our race pace means that we should be fighting for the win tomorrow. Supposedly it is going to rain tomorrow and if that’s the case we’ll just have to adapt as best we can.”

Source: Bancaja Aspar Team